THE kidnapping and murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad is too important a matter to be allowed to be obfuscated by a smokescreen of controversy and political machinations. On Thursday, the government announced the setting up of a five-member commission headed by a Supreme Court judge to look into the killing. However, questions have been raised about whether this is in line with established procedure. The government has come under strong criticism for exploiting the issue and using it to justify the commission set up earlier, in a similar manner, over the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden by a US SEALs team in Abbottabad. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry too said yesterday that the government had not fulfilled the legal formalities in appointing Justice Saqib Nisar as the head of the judicial commission.

There are numerous points of concerns. First, there is the need to keep the executive and the judiciary separate. By constituting the inquiry commission in this manner, bypassing the office of the chief justice, the government appears to be undermining the influence of the judiciary. Then, there are suspicions that the intelligence apparatus may have been involved in Mr Shahzad's death. This requires credible investigation given that journalists are targeted in Pakistan with impunity and that this is not the first time that the security apparatus has been accused of involvement. The implications of the revelations contained in Mr Shahzad's last published article regarding the presence of extremist sympathisers in the lower cadres of the Pakistan Navy add another worrying dimension. Law-enforcement has fallen to such abysmal standards that it seems a murder cannot be properly investigated through ordinary channels. A specially constituted investigation team is therefore required, and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has already filed a petition requesting the setting up of a commission. Indeed, investigation is required into all the murders of journalists since the inception of the 'war on terror'. Given the importance of this particular case, it is imperative that the executive and judiciary work in complementary ways and the investigation is not tainted by any kind of controversy.