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Summary The SC has summoned a reply from the Interior, Information and Law ministries on the matter.
Supreme Court has accepted a petition, seeking the formation of a judicial commission to probe the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad, for hearing.A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the petition. The petition was filed by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jahangir represented the PFUJ in the court. The Supreme Court summoned a reply from the interior, information and law secretaries on killing of Shahzad. The attorney general of Pakistan, Punjab advocate general and IG Islamabad were also summoned by the court.During the hearing, the chief justice remarked that Shahzad’s killing was a matter of human rights. The chief justice said that the government did not meet the legal requirement by constituting the commission to probe the killing of Shahzad.He said that the appointment of Justice Saqib Nisar as the head of the commission without the consultation of the Supreme Court was against the norms. Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court, Asma Jahangir said that democratic institutions guaranteed human rights.But the 15-day record of Shahzad’s mobile phone was removed that raised many questions, she said.
