Ismail, Islamabad bureau chief for Pakistan Press
International, was found near his home in Islamabad with his head “smashed with
some hard blunt object,” according to Mazhar Abbas, then secretary-general of
the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. The Associated Press reported that a
police investigator said an iron bar might have been used as a weapon.
Ismail was last seen the previous night as he was leaving
his house to take a walk. Doctors who received the body when it was taken to a
local hospital told the journalists union that Ismail had been dead for a few
hours before being discovered.
Ismail’s family told Abbas that they were at a loss as to
what could have prompted the attack. They told him Ismail, who was nearing
retirement, was carrying little of value when he was assaulted. Ismail’s news
agency was not known for particularly critical reporting of the government, CPJ
research shows.