Islamabad asks US to share evidence on Shahzad’s murder

NEW YORK - Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has urged the Obama administration to share evidence it has on any role Pakistan may have had in the May death of journalist Saleem Shahzad.
Speaking to The New York Times in a telephonic interview, Haqqani responded to comments to reporters on Thursday by Admiral Mike Mullen that he believed the Pakistani government ‘sanctioned’ the killing of Shahzad, 40, who had been writing about government links to militants and their infiltration into security forces.
Haqqani told the Times a Pakistani commission is inquiring into Shahzad’s death. “Any evidence that our American friends have should be shared with that commission,” the ambassador said. “We are as interested in getting to the bottom of this matter as anyone else in the world, given our concern about human rights.” Mullen, the first US official to say so publicly, was quoted as telling reporters he believed Shahzad’s death “was sanctioned by the government,” and that he has not “seen anything to disabuse the report that the govt knew about this.”
The Times, quoting US officials, reported this week that Pakistan’s spy agency is believed to have ordered the killing of Shahzad. The officials said classified intelligence showed senior officials of Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence ordered the attack on Shahzad to silence him.
The already strained US-Pakistan relations have further worsened since a US Navy SEALs team killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden May 2 inside his compound in Abbottabad, much to the embarrassment of Islamabad.
Mullen said he could not specifically tie Shahzad’s death to the Pakistani spy agency but said he thought Pakistani officials were complicit. The Times said a US military official declined to say whether Mullen believed that extended to Pakistani President Asif Zardari or Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
The Pakistani spy agency has denied any involvement in the killing.
Agencies add:?Pakistan on Friday denounced as ‘extremely irresponsible and unfortunate’ comments by the top-ranking US military officer that elements of the Pakistan government had sanctioned the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad in May, warning that it could hurt cooperation in the fight against militants.
The remarks by Admiral Mike Mullen on the murder of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad came at a time when relations between the uneasy allies were already seriously damaged after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US forces.