Pak Govt may have approved Shahzad's murder: Mullen

Washington, July 8: The abduction and the subsequent murder of noted Pakistani journalist, Syed Saleem Shahzad might have been approved by the Pakistan government, a top US military leader said on Thursday, Jul 7.

"It's been reported recently and I haven't seen anything that would disabuse that report," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chief of Staff, told reporters in response to a question during a luncheon with the Pentagon Press Association.

At the same time, the top Pentagon official noted that he hasn't seen any concrete evidence in this regard either of the Pakistan government or that of the Inter Services Intelligence, as reported by The New York Times recently.

"The reports that he was killed and there were government officials who had sanctioned that," Mullen said when asked about what reports he was referring it.

"I have not seen anything to disabuse the report that the government knew about this. But I can't, would not be able to walk in that here is the string of the evidence that I have to conform it," Mullen said.

However, Mullen said he has not seen any evidence of ISI's involvement in it.

"I haven't seen anything that conforms that (ISI was responsible for the killing of the Pakistani journalist," Mullen said in response to a question about the recently published New York Times report in this regard.

"I am hugely concerned about obviously his death. His isn't the first. For, whatever reason it has been used as a method historically. There are others certainly claims historically. I have seen Pakistani officials -- I just gave them a room" who deny it," he said.

"Certainly from my perspective, it's something we all need to pay our attention to including the Pakistanis. It's not a way to move ahead. It's a way to continue to quite frankly spiral in the wrong direction," Mullen said.

PTI