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ISI scripted Mumbai attack, Qaida cleared it: Shahzad book
NEW DELHI (India Times) – The 26/11 terror attacks that killed 166 people and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war was scripted by ISI officers and approved before its execution by al-Qaida commanders, according to a book just written by slain Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.
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Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad disappeared from Islamabad, a few days later
his body was found in a canal reportedly with torture marks (Reuters)The 40-year-old reporter in his book titled ‘Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taleban — beyond bin Laden and 9/11’ describes the Mumbai plan as one pushed through by Ilyas Kashmiri, a key al-Qaida ally with wide links with the Pakistan defence establishment. Shahzad, who was an authority on terrorism in Afghanistan and the neighbourhood, says in the book that the plan was authored by the Inter-Services Intelligence officers and embraced and executed by Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Mission silencing: State bans Saleem Shahzad’s book
The killing of Syed Saleem Shahzad is brutal confirmation that Pakistan is the world’s most hazardous place for journalists, whistle blowers and Independent thinkers.
Saleem Shahzad’s kidnapping a week ago and his later brutal murder sparked off speculation that he was killed by the ISI, which was apparently unhappy with some of his writings on Islamist groups and their connections with the country’s premier spy agency.
Pakistan’s news media naturally see the Shahzad killing as an unambiguous attempt to intimidate them and silence dissent. The state and it’s pro-status quo camp is silencing the voice of change and the independent thinking because it is afraid of the truth. That is why the profession of journalism is so dangerous in Pakistan. Here, when a whistle blower challenges the powerful institutions and individuals excessively, he is eliminated and his voice silenced.
Report of the Saleem Shehzad Commission >>
ISI gets a clean chit in Saleem probe
ISLAMABAD (Dawn)Jan. 12, 2012 – The secretary of the Saleem Shehzad Commission presented its probe report to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the mysterious murder of the journalist, giving a clean chit to the country’s security agencies, including the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Saleem Shehzad was an investigative journalist who had claimed of receiving life threats and pointed fingers at the country’s security agencies, especially the ISI, only a few days before his murder.
A source privy to the details said the 140-page report had recommended the prime minister make the report public. “The commission found no involvement of any security agency, including the ISI, in the killing of the journalist. Moreover, none of the journalists interviewed gave any evidence or shared information about the involvement of agencies.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
