The commission, probing the Lal Masjid Operation of 2007, Thursday left for London to record the statement of former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz through a video link, as Aziz refused to come to Pakistan due to security concerns. The one-member commission of a senior judge of Federal Shariat Court, Justice Shehzad Al-Shaikh was constituted by Supreme Court to investigate the Lal Masjid operation during the Musharraf regime.
Inspection team member of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Syed Muzafar Ali Shah had been nominated Secretary while Additional District and Sessions Judge Kamran Basharat is the Additional Secretary of the Commission. Sources said that the Additional Secretary, Additional District and Session Judge Kamran Bashara would record the statement of Shaukat Aziz on March 18 at Pakistan High Commission. The presence of a judge while recording Shaukat Aziz's statement is a legal requirement, they said.
Chairman Lal Masjid Commission Justice Shehzad Al-Shaikh will cross examine Shaukat Aziz, the sources said. They said that the commission had issued summons to former president Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz on February 8. However, they did not appear before the commission on February 8 and due to non-appearance, the commission re-summoned them on February 12.
Pervez Musharraf refused to record his statement while Shaukat Aziz has offered to record his statement through video link and refused to come to Pakistan due to security concerns, sources said. The Supreme Court had tasked the commission to investigate the causes that led to clash between security forces and those present in Lal Masjid at the time of the operation.
The commission has reportedly recorded evidence of 300 witnesses, including PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Ijazul Haq, Tariq Azeem, Mohammad Ali Durrani, former education minister Javed Ashraf Qazi, Aftab Sherpao, former DG Crisis Management Cell Javed Iqbal Cheema, former interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah, incumbent secretary interior Khawaja Siddiq Akbar, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Tariq Mehmood Pirzada, former CDA chairman Kamran Lashari, Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, his wife Umme Hassan, students of the madressah and parents of those students whose children went missing after the incident.
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