Saleem Shahzad commission summons 16 senior journalists

The commission has asked journalists to provide information and help the investigation move forward.

ISLAMABAD:
The judicial commission probing Saleem Shahzad’s murder summoned 16 senior journalists in their next meeting to be held on July 9.

The list of journalists asked to appear before the commission includes Hamid Mir, Zahid Hussain, Talat Hussain, Naseem Zehra and Matiullah Jan, Aizaz Syed, Umer Cheema and president APNS Hameed Haroon among others.

The commission has asked journalists to provide information and help the investigation move forward.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) provided the probe commission with names of ten journalists who are willing to come forward and help. The names are not disclosed to the media.

Ali Dayan Hassan of the Human Rights Watch along with Shahzad's brother-in-law, have been summoned as well.

Ali Dayan, besides Hameed Haroon, had received an email from the slain journalist informing them of threats to him from the ISI.


The commission instructed the Interior Ministry to order FIA to preserve and submit the email record of the slain journalist.

The PTA failed to submit Shahzad’s cell phone record to the commission in this meeting. The PTA has contacted the service providers and asked to preserve the call records.

Secretary of Judicial Commission, Taimoor Azmat said that mobile phone and email record of the murdered journalist will be acquired soon. He added that the Interior Ministry will be requested for providing the email record to the commission since the FIA comes under the aforementioned ministry, but the retrieval will be done in the presence of the commission.

An earlier instruction of reaching out to the family, friends and colleagues of the journalist for submitting information voluntarily did not work, hence the commission has decided to summon those who could be of any help, the federal information secretary said.

He was speaking to the media in Lahore.

IG Punjab and IG Islamabad, who are a part of this commission as well, were instructed to share their independent police findings to the commission.
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