A daring journalist

Journalist Saleem Shahzad disappeared two days after writing an investigative report in Asia Times Online about the militant attack on PNS Mehran naval airbase in Karachi. On Tuesday, Punjab police said they found his body on a canal bank in Mandi Bahauddin, nearly 130-km south-east of Islamabad. Shahzad's abandoned car was found 34-km away. His body bore over 15 torture marks.
According to Human Rights Watch, Shahzad had complained about being threatened by the ISI. The ISI, however, has rejected all the allegations and insinuations against it, asking the media to refrain from making "baseless" allegations that "seek to deliberately malign the organisation in the eyes of the people of Pakistan".
The father of three young kids, a soft-spoken Shahzad was buried in Qayyumabad graveyard near his DHA Karachi residence yesterday. His killers had sought to send a strong message across by subjecting him to severe torture, which apparently ultimately led to his death. It is to be seen whether they achieve their objective through this dastardly act. Because they don't learn from past blunders, they never will. This is what most people can say at this point in time with conviction - with genuine conviction.
How profoundly has Guardian's Islamabad-based correspondent provided a possible clue to the missing journalist Shahzad's death. According to the writer, he was delving deep into the murky waters of Islamic militancy in Pakistan. There can be many other theories that seek to answer questions such as why he was killed and who are his killers, but this seems to be one of the most profound ones at this point in time.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered an inquiry into the kidnapping and murder, pledging that the culprits would be "brought to book". One earnestly hopes that the inquiry will lead to identify not only his killers, but also all the circumstances and events that preceded his death. Indeed, many were reluctant to wade the murky waters of militancy, which had acquired a new horrific dimension following the US raid in Abbottabad resulting in bin Laden's killing, but Shahzad had decided to maintain his reputation as a "daring journalist".