ISLAMABAD, June 2: In a bid to get some evidence against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif in connection with the storming of the Supreme Court in 1997, the capital police have issued notices to 59 persons to record their statements, sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The notices issued from the office of Senior Superintendent of Police Mohammad Yousuf Malik asked these people, including politicians currently affiliated with the PML-N and PML-Q, to record their statements by June 4.

Sources said the police wanted to grill the PML-N top leadership in the case on the directive of Interior Minister Rehman Malik. On May 18, the police approached the Sharif brothers for recording their statements but they refused to appear before the inquiry team either in their residence in Lahore or at the Punjab House in Islamabad.

As a result, senior police officers, including the inspector general and the SSP, held a meeting to devise a strategy and also sought opinion from the prosecution department of the police.

In its opinion, the prosecution department said there was no evidence against the Sharif brothers regarding their involvement in the incident that occurred on November 28, 1997. Previous police investigation into the incident showed that the PML-N leaders were in Lahore on that day. Besides, they were neither nominated in the FIR nor any supplementary statements and investigation report.

However, the department suggested that the Sharif brothers could be booked in the case under section 109 (abetment act) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) if an evidence or allegation was gathered against them. Therefore, it was further suggested that all those previously attached with the investigation should be interrogated again and their statements recorded to collect some evidence against the former prime minister and his brother.

When contacted, PML-N spokesman Pervez Rasheed said: “We have not received the notices yet.” He said the PML-N would respond to the notices in accordance with the law after consulting its legal experts.

Mr Rasheed alleged that the police were harassing and threatening the staff of Punjab House to get statements of its choice. The staff members are being approached and inquired about their current and previous activities and engagements, especially in 1997, he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Tariq Mehmood Pirzada has issued show-cause notice to SSP Malik and asked explanation from him after the interior minister’s orders to the police to grill the PML-N leaders appeared in the press, sources said.

Moreover, SP Taimour Ali Khan, who conducted an inquiry into the case on the directive of the Supreme Court in 1999, appeared before the district magistrate and recorder his statement.

The sources said he told the magistrate that the inquiry he conducted had already been submitted to the SC in 2001 with a note that “I cannot conclude the inquiry as Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Shafir are in exile and unapproachable to get their statement.”

The district magistrate, Amir Ahmed Ali, is conducting the judicial inquiry on the direction on of the interior minister to fix responsibility for non-completion of the investigation and inquiry conducted by the police.