WASHINGTON: The top US military officer says the Pakistani government "sanctioned" the killing of a journalist last month, but said he could not tie the death to the country's powerful intelligence service.
Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the beating to death of Saleem Shahzad and the reported abuse of other journalists is no way for a government to move ahead. He said it was a way to spiral in the wrong direction.
Asked about the media reports that Islamabad sanctioned or approved the killing of the reporter, Admiral Mike Mullen said: "I haven't seen anything that would disabuse that report." Shahzad's death was blamed on Inter-Services Intelligence agency, but the ISI has denied it. His death was followed a few weeks later by the beating of another journalist by men wearing police uniforms. Mullen is the first top US leader to publicly link the killing to the Pakistani government.
He said he was "concerned" about the incident and suggested other reporters had suffered a similar fate in the past. "His (death) isn't the first. For whatever reason, it has been used as a method historically." Mullen said the episode raised worrying questions about the country's current course. agencies
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