Pak journalist goes missing, ISI hand suspected

Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has been reported missing from Islamabad days after authoring an article in which he contended that Al Qaeda attacked the naval base in Karachi on May 22 after failed talks with the navy to release personnel detained on suspicion of having link to the terror outfit.

Pakistan human rights groups fear he's being detained by intelligence agencies for his reports over the Mehran base attack. Shehzad had a premonition that he would be abducted by the Inter-Services Intelligence and left a note beforehand with a human rights group, say sources.

Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online, was last seen on Sunday evening as he drove off to a television station for an interview. However, he did not reach the station, the South Asian Free Media Association said in an email. The journalist did not contact his family or friends, and his mobile phone and car untraceable.

The journalists in Pakistan have taken up the issue with the government, but were yet to get any response on Shahzad's whereabouts.  

The police have registered a first information report and started an investigation after Shahzad's brother in-law Hamza Ameer filed a complaint at Margallah police station, a police spokesman said.