15 August 2004	Sunday	28 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 14: Raja Khawar Nawaz, the owner-editor of the Nawa-i-Hurriyat magazine, was arrested here on Friday on the orders of the AJK Supreme Court Chief Justice, Mohammad Yunus Surakhvi, soon after he appeared before him in a contempt of court case.

Mr Nawaz was served contempt notices by the supreme court and the high court of the Azad Kashmir for publishing "libelous and fictional material with a view to lowering down the prestige and harassing the members of the superior judiciary".

On Thursday, the high court granted him bail against personal bond and surety of Rs200,000 each, till the next date of hearing, Aug 23, after he tendered an unconditional apology and said that he had been used by some people for their ulterior motives.

On Friday, Raja Nawaz took the same plea in the apex court. He told Justice Surakhvi that he had printed the write-ups at the behest of and on the basis of a file provided to him by an intelligence agency personnel, named Pervez, without personally investigating or verifying it.

He tendered an unconditional apology, and also said that he was "mentally prepared to undergo any punishment".

An officer of Military Intelligence said the accused should tell the phone number, vehicle number or any other identification of the person he was describing as an intelligence personnel.

The CJ ordered Mr Nawaz to deposit personal bond and surety of Rs500,000 each.