Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad. – File Photo by AP

LAHORE: All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) president Hameed Haroon and Pakistan director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Ali Dayan Hassan appeared on Wednesday before a judicial commission investigating the murder of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.

The commission headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar of the Supreme Court recorded their statements and reviewed record of the emails they had received from the journalist days before his death.

The emails in which the deceased had expressed concern over threats to his life had been found to be correct, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Pervez Shaukat said while talking to reporters after the commission’s proceedings held at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court.

He said the commission would take some time to complete its investigation because several senior journalists who were to appear before it were not in the country.

He said the commission might at its next hearing record the statements of the widow of Saleem Shahzad and journalist Najam Sethi.

Mr Shaukat said the Federal Investigation Agency had submitted its report on the mobile phone record of the deceased, but it could not decode his emails because of unavailability of the password.

He said the commission was working independently and fearlessly under the supervision of a sitting judge of the apex court and there was no pressure from any quarter.

The next hearing of the commission will be held in the coming week and the venue will depend on the availability of Justice Nisar.

Federal Shariat Court’s Chief Justice Agha Rafiq and Punjab police chief Javed Iqbal attended the meeting, but another member, Islamabad’s IG Police Binyamin, and the commission’s secretary Taimur Azmat could not.