Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

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

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Syed Saleem Shahzad- a great and brave reporter — A Mann
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech