Americans Have Found Their Gongadze in Pakistan

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has accused the government of Pakistan of involvement in the death of freelance journalist Saleem Shahzad. Such serious allegations, thrown out by a high-level official (Mullen’s title makes him the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces), indicate a sharp deterioration in the already damaged relations between the U.S. and Pakistan.

As the experiences of “color revolutions” show, the killings of opposition journalists are often used as an excuse for American intervention in a country with an inconvenient government.

Shahzad worked in a Pakistani bureau of a Hong Kong online publication, Asia Times. He was investigating Pakistani intelligence links with al-Qaida and the Taliban. The journalist disappeared on May 29 of this year. Two days later his body was found in the trunk of a car on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani immediately ordered an investigation into the death of Shahzad. The interior minister has been personally providing the prime minister with weekly reports on the investigation. Despite all these measures, the rumors in Pakistan are gaining strength that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency is behind the abduction and killing of the journalist.

As early as July 4, an unnamed source in the U.S. president’s administration suggested a possible ISI connection to the murder. It should be noted that from the very beginning, Washington treated the matter of Saleem Shahzad with increased attention. Recently Admiral Michael Mullen openly stated that, according to him, the kidnapping and murder of Shahzad, was “sanctioned” by the Pakistani government.

Islamabad officials reacted instantly. “It is extremely irresponsible and unfortunate,” said Pakistan’s minister of information about the admiral’s statement. “One gets the impression that some forces are trying to use this case as an excuse to put pressure on the elected government officials of the country,”* reads a specially-issued communication from Pakistan.

Pakistanis’ impressions are not deceiving, thinks Moscow’s Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis expert Sergey Demidenko. “By accusing Islamabad of involvement in the murder of the journalist,” the expert told Izvestia, “the Americans are sending Pakistani President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani a clear message: Washington is strongly dissatisfied with them.”

The experience of “color revolutions” in Eastern Europe suggests that the U.S. often uses the infamous murders of journalists to destabilize unwanted regimes. The Ukraine case of Georgiy Gongadze eventually led to the Orange Revolution and the downfall of the government of Leonid Kuchma. Perhaps Americans will use the same pattern in Pakistan. According to Demidenko, there is only one thing saving Pakistan from direct intervention along the lines of the Ukraine scenario: “Americans simply do not have anyone to replace the Zardari-Gillani government with in Islamabad. In Pakistan today there is no political force sufficiently capable and loyal to the United States.”

*Editor’s note: This quote, accurately translated, cannot be verified.