July 31, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 30: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of two officials of the National Accountabilty Bureau, who had been arrested last week for harassing a man in the court premises.

The order was passed by a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and comprising Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf and Justice Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery.

Col (retd) Tariq Bhatti (Monitoring Wing) and Mohammad Aslam (Investigation Crime Wing) had been detained in the Adiala Jail for beating up Mohammad Irfan, an employee of a private sector steel mills.

Raja Ibrahim Satti appeared for the accused and he tendered an apology in writing signed by the accused.

NAB’s prosecutor-general Danishwar Malik, deputy prosecutor-general Dr Asghar Rana, deputy attorney-general Sardar Mohammad Ghazi also appeared before the court.

Dr Babar Awan also appeared before the court. He appreciated the court’s role to protect its own dignity and that of the bar room by taking prompt action against the NAB officials.

He said that Syed Muzzammal Hussain, president of the Supreme Court Press Association, who had submitted an affidavit as an eyewitness, complained that he was being harassed by anonymous callers.

Mr Hussain also said that a car and a motorcycle had tailed him for two days.

A citizen was hesitant to become a witness in such matters because of fears of harassment and threats, Babar Awan said.

The bench directed the prosecutor-general to investigate the matter and submit a detailed report within three days. The bench warned the accused that they would have to face consequences if they were found guilty of involvement in incidents of harassment.

The Chief Justice had taken suo motu notice of the incident after the hearing of a case of Haris Steel Mills and on an application filed by Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Waseem Sajjad and Dr Babar Awan.