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Saleem Shahzad: your birth is mistake

William gomes | 02.06.2011 09:32 | Analysis | Repression | World

American journalists Chuck Palahniuk said “Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.” It just came to my mind when I was going trough the news of a Pakistani investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.

American journalists Chuck Palahniuk said “Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.” It just came to my mind when I was going trough the news of a Pakistani investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad. I came to know about the incident from a fellow activist of Honkong based rights group Asian Human Rights Commission. I was asking about the incident of Saleem Shahzad. And the story follows like this He was found dead in a canal in North-east Pakistan, showing signs of torture, two days after he was apparently kidnapped.

Saleem Shahzad was a very known person to the Asian Human Rights Commission and other human rights organization . I don't want to go into the detials of the facts how the Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency, the ISI end-up the life of a very promising journalist.
It’s a really mistake that Saleem Shahzad born in a nation like Pakistan and where the people are rule on barrel of gun. I am sure if Saleem was bron in place where the liberty flourished , he might be called as the savior like Jesus or revolutionary like Che Guevara .

I am very much touched and shocked in hearing the story of Saleem , I have returned from the cave of death. The notorious intelligence agency of Bangladesh Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) .
AHRC siad in their statement that the rule of law in Pakistan is very much at the mercy of the armed forces.Its almost same in Bangladesh. It may better to say that rule of law is ruled by the armed forces , its not the ruler rules the law and it’s the army they rule the ruler in Bangaldesh.
Any how , I was going through the statement of AHRC where it said “ ISI will dominate the inquiry into Shahzad's murder simply because the government has no will power to question it.”
The statement also noted “Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) while speaking to the official national news agency in Islamabad yesterday has questioned the "baseless allegations" leveled by Human Rights Watch on the basis of an E mail from Salim Shahzad, the Bureau Chief of the Hong Kong based Asia Times Online, in their possession .”

The point that ISI brought up its similar in many places , the best way the government of forces like ISI uses is blaming the victim. In a statement for tutored journalist “FMA Razzak “ AHRC said “States and state agents have historically used violence to stifle public debate, and silence their critics.”Bangladeshi journalist FMA Razzak has been in imminent danger of losing his life because of his work three times.

Eminent jurist Basil Fernando wrote a poem “SOME GOUGE OUT THE EYES OF OTHERS “for Tagore's 150th birth anniversary-which was published on Sri Lanka Guardian . The poem goes like this
Cry, Tagore, cry.
Your nation knows you not.

Yes, they have ceremonies,
Exhibiting your photos,
Repeating your songs.
Talking about the 150th anniversary,
They may even build
a temple for you, these days.

But your brain,
Your voice,
Your love for the people,
Your vision for humanity,
Your dream for your nation,
That, dear sir, is dead-dead-dead.

Some gouge out the eyes of others.
During day-light people disappear
In darkened limousines.
Blindfolded, they take away people.
Naked, kneeling in mortuary-like places
they recall your verses.


Cry, Tagore, cry.
Your nation knows you not.
Your poems matter not.
You are so soon forgotten.
Yes, truly forgotten.
Dead-Dead-Dead.
I find out a differences between the incident of Saleem Shahzad and FMA Razzak saleem is dead and Razzak is alive. I findout some similarities both of them are loud against the injustice and committed to be on that commitment even after the death. We have Razzak alive who can speak up of injustice and Saleem become a sign of inspiration for many others who is still alive.
At then end I will recite some lines from the poem of Basil for the Pakistani journalists

“But your brain,
Your voice,
Your love for the people,
Your vision for humanity,
Your dream for your nation,
That, dear sir, is dead-dead-dead.”

William gomes
- e-mail: william@williamgomes.org
- Homepage: www.williamgomes.org

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  1. Syed Saleem Shahzad- a great and brave reporter — A Mann