Shahzad's killing case: Pak commission summons 16 journalists

LAHORE: The Pakistani judicial commission probing Saleem Shahzad's killing has summoned 16 reporters to appear before it on July 9 to record their statements.

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 commission decided to summon individuals so that their statements could be recorded," commission's secretary Taimur Azmat said yesterday after a meeting of the panel held in the Supreme Court's Lahore Registry.

He said the commission had also asked the public to submit any information they may have on the abduction and killing of Shahzad but only two persons had approached the body in this regard.

Azmat, who is also the federal Information Secretary, said the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had informed the commission through a report that the records of two mobile phones being used by Shahzad had been preserved.

The Interior Ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency had been directed to access Shahzad's email accounts in the commission's presence, he said.

The next meeting of the commission will be held in Islamabad on July 9.

Supreme Court Justice Saqib Nisar is the head of the commission and its other members are Federal Shariah Court Chief Justice Agha Rafiq Ahmad, Islamabad Police chef Bin Yamin, Punjab Police chief Javed Iqbal and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists president Pervaiz Shaukat.