March 30, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, March 29: A judicial tribunal holding an inquiry into the manhandling of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry will soon submit its recommendations to the apex court as it concluded recording of statements by accused officials and witnesses on Thursday.

The commission comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal of the Peshawar High Court recorded statements of five police officers of Islamabad, two district administrative authorities and nine reporters, photographers and cameramen of different media organisations.

The accused police officers include Iftikhar Chaudhry, inspector general of police, Islamabad, Zafar Iqbal, SSP, Jameel Hashmi, DSP, Rukhsar Mehdi, SHO, and Mohammad Siraj, ASI. Khalid Pervez, chief commissioner, and Mohammad Ali, deputy commissioner, also appeared as the accused executive authority.

The eyewitnesses from the media include Mohammad Jamshed Ali, Sajjad Ahmed Qureshi, Sabir Shakir, Iftikhar Chaudhry, Khalid Jameel, Mohammad Irfan, Shakeel Anjum, Yasir Malik and Mohammad Latif.

The police officers in their statements either denied manhandling of the chief justice on March 13 or tried to absolve themselves by saying they were away from the spot or reached there late. The most interesting statement was made by one of the prime accused who said “strangers in police uniform” were present at the scene where the chief justice was said to be manhandled.

Their claims were, however, rejected by the media persons who were eyewitness to the manhandling of the chief justice. They testified before the tribunal that police officers had roughed up the chief justice to force him to ride an official car to make his first appearance before the Supreme Judicial Council on March 13. They said top police officers were also present when the chief justice was mistreated.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Javed Iqbal, had taken suo motu notice of the matter after publishing of photographs in the print media showing Justice Chaudhry being manhandled.

The bench had appointed the judicial tribunal to hold an inquiry within a week. The Supreme Court will pass further orders in the light of recommendations of the tribunal.