Relatives carry the coffin of Syed Saleem Shahzad during his funeral in Karachi on Wednesday. (AFP)

Karachi, June 1 (AP): Pakistan’s main intelligence agency issued a rare media statement today to deny it was behind the abduction and killing of a journalist who was investigating terrorism.

The ISI also threatened legal action against media outlets that were reporting speculation that the spy agency was somehow linked to the slaying of Syed Saleem Shahzad.

His body was found Tuesday showing signs of torture. He was buried today.

Before he was killed, Shahzad told a human rights activist that he had been threatened by intelligence agents.

The ISI statement, in the form of a story carried by the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan, quoted an unidentified intelligence official.

“It is regrettable that some sections of the media have taken upon themselves to use the incident for targeting and maligning the ISI,” the official was quoted as saying. The agency’s operatives occasionally brief journalists, but do not normally release information through APP.

In recent weeks, Pakistan’s news outlets have produced scathing coverage of the security establishment, prompted by it’s being caught unawares by the May 2 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a garrison city in Pakistan’s northwest.

Shahzad came under ISI scrutiny in October when he wrote in the Asia Times that Pakistan had freed a detained Afghan Taliban commander. Within days, he was summoned to an ISI office, according to an email he sent to Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. Intelligence officials pressured him to reveal his sources or retract the story. He refused.

At the end of the meeting, one of the intelligence officials issued what he took as a veiled threat. The official told Shahzad intelligence agents had recently arrested a terrorist who was carrying a hit list. The official then said he would tell Shahzad if his name was on the list.

The APP report quoted the ISI officer as saying there was “nothing sinister” about the meeting. The official said the ISI would “leave no stone unturned in helping to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice”, but warned that “the media should act with responsibility to avoid any possible legal” problems. It did not elaborate.

The ISI operates largely outside the law and routinely detainees suspected militants, political activists and separatists, without charge. They can be held for months, if not years, in secret prisons. In Baluchistan province, rights activists accuse the agency of killing separatists.

Internationally, it is best known for its alleged support of Islamist militants, especially those fighting in Afghanistan and India.

Shahzad, who was abducted in Islamabad on Sunday night, was a well-known journalist who wrote for the Asia Times Online and other publications. He regularly investigated sensitive topics, such as the alleged ties between militants and the state.