Pakistan on Dead Journo: Accusation 'Irresponsible'

Pakistan is furious today over US allegations that it tortured and killed journalist Saleem Shahzad. A few days ago, US military officials were reluctant to even anonymously confirm that the Pentagon suspected the ISI in the killing, but yesterday Admiral Mike Mullen himself said he believed Pakistan’s government had “sanctioned” the killing. “It’s a way to continue to, quite frankly, spiral in the wrong direction,” he said, according to the AP.

Mullen is the highest-ranking officer in the US military, and the first to publicly accuse Pakistan in Shahzad’s death. Mere hours later, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan released an angry statement, calling Mullen’s accusations “extremely irresponsible,” and saying that it “will not help in investigating the issue.” The government, it noted, had already set up a commission to investigate the incident. (More Saleem Shahzad stories.)