ISLAMABAD, June 3: A group of 15 lawyers on Monday approached the Secretariat police and submitted the statements of 12 lawyers in connection with the judges’ detention case.

Some of the lawyers were also detained after the proclamation of the November 3, 2007, emergency.

Although the police received all the statements, only two of them were made part of the record as the remaining 10 lawyers were not present on the occasion.

The group of lawyers submitted the statements to Inspector Mubarak Ali, who is the investigating officer of the case.

Col (retired) Inamur Rahim, who also claimed to be a victim of the emergency and whose statement was made part of the police record on Monday, told Dawn that he was an adviser to the corps commander Karachi in October 2007 and also a judge of the army appellant court.

When he and some other senior army officers came to know about then President and army chief Pervez Musharraf’s intention to detain the judges of the superior judiciary, seniors officers approached him and asked his legal opinion over the development. “I told them that it would be against the law and the constitution.”

He said on October 27, 2007, he was informed by a senior army officer that he had been retired from the service. He said he was forcibly sent home five years before he reached the age of retirement.

After three days, he arrived in Rawalpindi and stayed at the army mess. On November 3, the emergency was proclaimed.

The seniors in the army mess were of the view that Musharraf’s decision to proclaim emergency would damage the image of the army, he stated. He added that Sardar Abdul Aziz Chandio in his statement, which was also submitted to the police on Monday, maintained that during the movement for the restoration of judges, lawyers were burnt alive in Karachi. Similarly, advocates Nabil Khan, Sardar Asmatullah, Chaudhry Ikram and Wasif also submitted their statements, saying they were arrested and detained in the Gujranwala jail.

Advocates Mohammad Asif, Sardar Munir Ahmed Khan, Chaudhry Mohammad Younus Nadir, Malik Mumtaz Hussain and Laiq Khan Swati in their statements said those who had supported the emergency were appointed as judges of the supreme and high courts, advocate Rahim said.

The lawyers also submitted a published statement of Ghulam Mustafa Ramday, a son of Justice (retired) Khalilur Rehman Ramday, stating he along with his father was detained.

Advocate Mohammad Anwar Dar told Dawn that he told the police that Musharraf had proclaimed the emergency and put the superior court judges under house arrest. Besides, he had also ordered to close the courts till further orders, he added.

On November 3, “I found a contingent of police around the Rawalpindi district courts and on the road leading towards it when I reached there.” Besides, the main gate of the court building was locked.

When some other lawyers reached the spot, the policemen called reinforcements and he along with other lawyers was arrested and shifted to the Civil Lines police station. Later, they were taken to the Rawat police station and then sent to Gujranwala jail.

Meanwhile, the Secretariat police on Monday submitted another interim challan of the case to the court. The challan contained the statements of the complainant and 10 other lawyers.

The investigators sought time from the court for investigation and collecting evidence.

A senior police officer said replies from PTV, National Assembly, Cabinet Division, law ministry, Supreme Court registrar, the central police office and the capital administration were still awaited to complete the challan.