Prominent web journal South Asia Tribune, run by a senior Pakistani journalist in the United States and known for its anti-Islamabad stance, has declared its closure from October end.
In his last article, editor Shaheen Sehbai, who went to the US after being jailed in Pakistan, categorically stated that 'there is absolutely no pressure of any kind on me to close this site because had that been so, my reaction would have been just the opposite'.
Maintaining that there was also 'no deal behind this move', he said, 'now I am retiring and closing this site with full confidence that someone from the younger generation, as determined as I had been, would pick up the thread from here and fill the vacuum, which may be created by our closure'.
Sehbai claimed that the mainstream opposition in Pakistan found South Asia Tribune a convenient and accessible source to raise issues against the government.
'Not only did the President of Pakistan himself mention this site in his public and private speeches, the government of Pakistan officially gave advertisements in all newspapers, asking people not to visit the site or read and reprint its material. It was a recognition of our work, in a way', he said.
The closure of South Asia Tribune comes weeks after President Pervez Musharraf's visit to the US.