LAHORE:
The judicial commission constituted to probe into the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad started proceedings on Monday.
The commission, which convened its first session at the Supreme Court registry in Lahore, directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to preserve all of Shahzad’s records.
Head of the commission, Supreme Court judge Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and other members, Federal Shariat Court Chief Justice Agha Rafique Ahmad Khan, Punjab and Islamabad’s inspector generals of police, Javed Iqbal and Binyamin respectively, and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists’ president Parvez Shaukat attended the proceedings.
The federal secretary for information and secretary of the commission, Taimoor Azmat Usman, also joined the hearing and produced available record.
“The commission directed the FIA to access emails of the murdered journalist and produce them before the commission at the next hearing on July 6,” Usman told journalists at the end of the proceedings.
He added that the commission had directed the PTA chairman to produce a complete record of calls made and received on Saleem Shahzad’s cell phone.
Usman said that a secretariat of the commission had been established at Pakistan Television’s Islamabad centre. He added that if any of the deceased journalist’s relatives, friends, journalists or the general public had any information, they should submit it before the commission by July 5. He said that the commission had directed both IGPs to continue investigations and keep the commission informed about the progress.
Speaking to the media, PFUJ president Pervez Shaukat said he was satisfied with the commission, but did not give details of the discussions. Shaukat said the commission will achieve the desired results if the proceedings are kept secret.
Meanwhile, the federal government has asked provincial governments as well as police and other law-enforcement agencies to ensure the security of journalists, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.
(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ASAD KHARAL IN LAHORE)
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.
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Extra ordinary interest being taken by US in Shezad Saleem murder case is quite intriguing. Too many statements and condemnations coming from the top officials in Washington are indicative of some kind of relationship between Saleem Shehzad and the US agencies. There are rumours circulating in Karachi that Saleem Shehzad was eliminated by the Black Water Agents to embarrass the ISI and Government of Pakistan. On the other hand our media is always in a hurry to fall into the trap laid down by foreign intelligence agencies and join the chorus to malign own security agencies. No doubt it is the responsibility of media to bring out the truth but in doing so they must be careful so that inadvertently the may not start serving the enemy's interests at the cost of our own national security interests. Take the case of Sarfraz Shah's killing by Rangers which was excessively used by the media for Army bashing without realizing that Rangers had the authority to shoot. In this era when the entire country is facing the threat of suicide bombings, the rangers and police performing their duties at public places are exposed to this danger much more than anybody else. The rangers were on duty when they fired at Sarfraz Shah and they never wanted to kill him because they never aimed at his vital points which could have caused his instant death. Unusual hype created by media has resulted into their trial by the terror court which is not justified. We all know that the concerned rangers were on duty and they were not terrorists. This vicious game played by the media has totally demoralized the rangers and deprived them of the initiative to check the crime. One of the most important contributory factor towards the recent large scale target killings in Karachi is the reluctance on the part of Rangers to shoot at the possible trouble shooters. It is a national loss that one of our very vital law enforcement agency has been completely cowed down and has become more of a show piece. I hope and pray that some of our over enthusiastic anchor persons of TV Channels who are actually responsible for this sorry state in Karachi, at least learn some lesson through this mad blood shed.