ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: The Supreme Court has summoned top police and administration officials of Islamabad on Monday over use of force against lawyers and media people by law-enforcement agencies in the federal capital on Saturday.

Notices to the interior secretary, chief commissioner, inspector general of police, deputy commissioner, duty magistrate and the senior superintendent of police were issued on Sunday after Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the matter.

The capital saw pitched battles on the Constitution Avenue after lawyers were manhandled, baton-charged and tear-gassed during a demonstration against President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid when Election Commission officials were scrutinising nomination papers of presidential candidates.

A number of journalists covering the event were also beaten up by riot police, plainclothesmen and anti-terrorist squad personnel. The baton-charge began minutes after Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, one of the proposers of Gen Musharraf as a candidate for the polls, had entered the Election Commission building and intensified when he was about to leave the place.

The chief commissioner and the inspector general of police have been asked to produce the security plan for the day as well as any order they had received from the Interior Division for maintaining law and order. They have also been directed to submit the situation report they had submitted to their seniors and copies of any registered FIRs, and details of the accused and evidences against them.

Representatives of private television channels, including Geo, ARY and Aaj, have been asked to produce recordings of the incident.

The Ministry of Information has been directed to issue a notice through the electronic media to lawyers, media people and members of the civil society to appear and furnish evidence if they have.

The medical superintendent of the Federal Government Services Hospital and the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences have been asked to furnish lists of injured people treated in the hospitals after the incident.

The advocate-general of Punjab has also been asked to appear and assist the court.

The chief justice took the suo motu notice on a note of the registrar of the Supreme Court.

The registrar noted that lawyers had gathered on the Constitution Avenue and inside the premises of the Supreme Court building to lodge a protest before the Election Commission. He said serious clashes had taken place and police had chased the lawyers into the Supreme Court building. He said police retreated and took position near the Federal Shariat Court building after the SSP had been asked to withdraw force from near the apex court.

The registrar said that the press had widely reported about the beating up of media personnel in front of the Election Commission office. There were also reports that Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem was manhandled in front of the EC office and MNA Dr Farooq Sattar MNA in front of the Federal Government Services Hospital.

He said that the response from police was robust and highly excessive when the lawyers kept agitating and raising slogans. Security personnel in plain clothes also thrashed the lawyers.

He said several lawyers suffered injuries and were provided first aid in the court dispensary. Their names could not be recorded due to rush of the injured and their attendants. After first aid, he said, some were discharged and others were shifted to the Federal Government Services Hospital.

The note by the registrar did not mention arrests made by police and law-enforcement agencies.