November 02, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 20, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 1: The fate of seven Islamabad administration and police officials sentenced to imprisonment by the Supreme Court on Thursday for manhandling the chief justice of Pakistan in March depends on the outcome of their appeals.

The apex court has given them 15 days to do that and the officials have said they would appeal.

“According to the Service Rule, if their appeals are rejected, they will have to serve their sentences and stand to be dismissed from their jobs without accruing usual service benefits and would be barred from government service for ever,” spokesman for the Establishment Division joint secretary Mohammad Arshad Malik told Dawn.

However, in case their appeals are accepted, they will continue their jobs.

The Supreme Court awarded one month’s simple imprisonment to Deputy Superintendent of Police Jamil Hashmi, Inspector Rukhsar Mehdi and Assistant Sub-Inspector Mohammad Siraj Khan, while Inspector-General of Police Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed and Senior Superintendent of Police Capt (retired) Zafar Iqbal were awarded 15 days’ simple imprisonment.

Chief Commissioner Khalid Pervaiz and Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali were awarded “imprisonment till rising of the court.”

On March 20, the then acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal had appointed Justice Ejaz Afzal of the Peshawar High Court to probe into the incident and fix responsibility on delinquent officers. After recording statements of mediapersons, police officials and other witnesses, the inquiry commission submitted its report to the court on March 30.

The Supreme Court on April 2 served contempt of court notices on the senior administrative and police hierarchy for roughing up the chief justice.

In the first round of transferring the officials involved in the incident, the government removed the chief commissioner and the IGP on August 25. The services of the chief commissioner were put at the disposal of the Punjab government, while the IGP was given a new assignment in the ministry of population, where he still works.

In the second round, the SSP was transferred to the Establishment Division on September 12, where he is still an OSD.

In another round of transferring the officials involved in the incident, DSP Hashmi, of I-9 circle, was removed from his post and transferred to Islamabad traffic police.

Inspector Mehdi, who was working as SHO of Secretariat at that time, was also removed from his post on July 25, while ASI Khan, the personal guard of the IGP, was suspended.