Shahzad murder: Senior ISI, IB officers quizzed

A judicial commission probing the abduction and killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has questioned senior officers of Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau.

Commission's secretary Taimour Azmat, who is also the federal information secretary, told the media that senior officers of the ISI and IB were questioned on Tuesday during a session lasting five hours.

The commission ordered them to file written replies to certain questions within 10 days, Azmat said, without giving details.

The panel will examine their written replies and form its opinion, he said.

Asked whether the commission was satisfied with the answers given by the intelligence officers, Azmat said it was too early to say anything in this regard.

He said officers of the rank of brigadier and deputy inspector general of police appeared before the commission.

Azmat spoke to the media after the panel concluded its meeting at the Lahore Registry of the Supreme Court.

He said a "summary" or formal proposal had been sent to the government to extend the time given to the commission to submit its report.

The additional time would not affect the investigations, he said. The next meeting of the commission will be held on September 5.

The panel is headed by Supreme Court judge Saqib Nisar and its other members are Federal Shariah Court Chief Justice Agha Rafiq Ahmad, Islamabad police chief Bin Yamin, Punjab Police chief Javed Iqbal and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists president Pervaiz Shaukat.

Shahzad was abducted while driving from his house to a TV station in Islamabad on May 29, two days after he alleged in an article that Al Qaeda had infiltrated the Pakistan Navy.

His body, bearing marks of torture, was found the next day in a canal in Punjab province.