Pak Supreme Court judge to probe slain journalist's death

Pakistan government has announced that a Supreme Court judge will probe the killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who was abducted and killed shortly after he wrote an article about the alleged infiltration of the Pakistan Navy by al-Qaeda.

"The government will announce a commission within two days to probe the assassination of Saleem Shahzad as a (proposal) in this regard has been moved," interior minister Rehman Malik yesterday told a group of journalists who were protesting against Shahzad's murder outside the parliament.

Those involved in Shahzad's killing will be brought to justice soon, he claimed.

Journalists across Pakistan continued their protest against the killing of Shahzad, whose body was found in a canal in Punjab province a day after he was abducted from the heart of Islamabad on Sunday.

Protests were held in the federal capital and across Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

In Peshawar, the Khyber Union of Journalists organised a protest rally and demanded the formation of a judicial commission to probe the killing.

The protesting journalists carried placards and banners inscribed with slogans demanding a judicial inquiry.

The journalists vowed to continue their protest till an impartial and independent inquiry into the incident was ordered to bring the killers to justice.

They called on the government to provide adequate security to journalists, especially in militancy-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.