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An investigation into the murder of a Pakistani journalist has recommended that the country's clandestine intelligence agencies be brought under Parliamentary scrutiny, ending their shadowy role as enforcers and silencers.
However, the judicial commission failed to identify the culprits responsible for killing Saleem Shahzad, angering human rights campaigners who have blamed the Inter-Service Intelligence agency for his death.
Mr Shahzad, a 40-year-old investigative reporter, went missing on May 21 last year, days after claiming al-Qaeda had infiltrated Pakistan's navy.
His body was found two days later in a canal about 100 miles from his home in Islamabad. It showed signs of a severe beating.
In the run-up to his death, he had told Human Rights Watch he had been threatened by the ISI.
In its report, the commission recommended the intelligence agencies be made more "law-abiding" and brought under parliamentary control a radical proposal in Pakistan where they operate as a secret state within a state.
also called for Shahzad's widow to be awarded £22,000 compensation, given a teaching job in a government institution and for her three children to be educated for free.
But the report admitted it could find no evidence about who was behind the killing.
"As an investigative reporter, Saleem's writings probably did, and certainly could have, drawn the ire of all the various belligerents in the War on Terror the Pakistani state, the non-state actors such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and foreign actors," it said. "Any of these could have had the motive to commit the crime."
It also seemed to shift blame to Shahzad himself, by recommending stricter regulation of Pakistan's journalists.
Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said no attempt was made to question ISI officials about what its Islamabad office was doing for the three days while Shahzad was missing.
"The report falls well short of expectations. The investigation should have been to find who in the ISI was responsible as there were very serious allegations made against it," he said.
"This report ducks the question." The ISI has always denied any role in the murder as "baseless".
Shahzad was well-known for his contacts in Pakistan's terrorist and militant havens, frequently embarrassing the government with his scoops.
He interviewed Illyas Kashmiri, a senior al-Qaeda figure, shortly before he was killed in a drone strike last year.
Repercussions of his death even disrupted relations between the US and Pakistan. Last July, America's then most senior military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, said Pakistan authorities had sanctioned Mr Shahzad's killing.
Pakistan was the deadliest country for the media in 2011, according to Reporters Without Borders, with at least eight journalists killed in connection with their work.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies 'should have parliamentary scrutiny' - Telegraph
However, the judicial commission failed to identify the culprits responsible for killing Saleem Shahzad, angering human rights campaigners who have blamed the Inter-Service Intelligence agency for his death.
Mr Shahzad, a 40-year-old investigative reporter, went missing on May 21 last year, days after claiming al-Qaeda had infiltrated Pakistan's navy.
His body was found two days later in a canal about 100 miles from his home in Islamabad. It showed signs of a severe beating.
In the run-up to his death, he had told Human Rights Watch he had been threatened by the ISI.
In its report, the commission recommended the intelligence agencies be made more "law-abiding" and brought under parliamentary control a radical proposal in Pakistan where they operate as a secret state within a state.
also called for Shahzad's widow to be awarded £22,000 compensation, given a teaching job in a government institution and for her three children to be educated for free.
But the report admitted it could find no evidence about who was behind the killing.
"As an investigative reporter, Saleem's writings probably did, and certainly could have, drawn the ire of all the various belligerents in the War on Terror the Pakistani state, the non-state actors such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and foreign actors," it said. "Any of these could have had the motive to commit the crime."
It also seemed to shift blame to Shahzad himself, by recommending stricter regulation of Pakistan's journalists.
Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said no attempt was made to question ISI officials about what its Islamabad office was doing for the three days while Shahzad was missing.
"The report falls well short of expectations. The investigation should have been to find who in the ISI was responsible as there were very serious allegations made against it," he said.
"This report ducks the question." The ISI has always denied any role in the murder as "baseless".
Shahzad was well-known for his contacts in Pakistan's terrorist and militant havens, frequently embarrassing the government with his scoops.
He interviewed Illyas Kashmiri, a senior al-Qaeda figure, shortly before he was killed in a drone strike last year.
Repercussions of his death even disrupted relations between the US and Pakistan. Last July, America's then most senior military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, said Pakistan authorities had sanctioned Mr Shahzad's killing.
Pakistan was the deadliest country for the media in 2011, according to Reporters Without Borders, with at least eight journalists killed in connection with their work.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies 'should have parliamentary scrutiny' - Telegraph
