Capital top cops bear the brunt
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—Inspector General Police Moravet Shah, Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ali and SSP Dr Naeem were suspended in Islamabad on Monday on the orders of the Supreme Court in connection with the weekend police violence against lawyers and journalists.
Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah apprised a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry of the action taken against the senior officials and presented a copies of the suspension orders. Advocate General Punjab Aftab Iqbal Chaudhry also appeared before the apex court and requested the bench to appoint District and Sessions Judge, Islamabad, to inquire into the September 29 incidents, if it so desired.
The bench heard the case after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Sunday took suo moto notice of the incidents and issued notices the concerned officials as well as the Punjab Advocate General. Other members of the bench were Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed.
The judges also issued contempt notices to the suspended IGP and SSP and to the duty magistrate over the landing of teargas shells and stones within the premises of the Supreme Court on the day. The two police officials and the magistrate were asked to explain as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.
The court ordered the authorities to ensure adequate medical treatment for all those injured in the police action. The Secretary Interior was directed to conduct a thorough inquiry through the official who replaces the suspended IGP. Syed Kamal Shah told the court that a high-powered committee had already been constituted to probe the incidents.
The bench said lawyers and media people would be free to lodge complaints with the police and they would also be allowed submit affidavits or information before the court about the unfortunate happening. The court ordered Punjab Advocate General to ask judge of anti-terrorism court of Rawalpindi to dispose of bail applications of several lawyers arrested by the police over the incident of beating of MQM parliamentarian Dr. Farooq Sattar.
The Islamabad administration was directed to submit chemical details about teargas shells that landed on the premises of the court and those used during the unrest, also mentioning from where these shells had been imported.
Asma Shirazi and Tariq Chowdhry, on behalf of ARY and Aaj television channels, apprised the court of disconnection of the transmission of the channels during the incident. The bench directed the Interior Secretary and Information Secretary to submit a report about the matter as well as provide details about a code of conduct for electronic media.
The court ordered that there should be no such interference by the concerned departments. The bench directed executive director PIMS Syed Fazle Hadi to submit a report about treatment to be given on daily basis to two injured, journalist Mazhar Sheikh and advocate Sanaullah Zahid, every day to the additional registrar of the Supreme Court.
The PIMS executive director informed the court that record about injured journalist Irfan Malik had been misplaced and rejected the allegation by the journalist that it had been taken away by some unknown agency.