Pakistan's premier probe agency FIA has been unable to access the e-mail records of slain journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, a judicial commission probing the May 29 murder of the scribe was told.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a report on the mobile phone records of the slain journalist, but could not "decode his e-mails due to the unavailability of passwords", the commission was informed by officials during a hearing in Lahore on past Wednesday.

The commission headed by Supreme Court judge Saqib Nisar recorded the statements of All Pakistan Newspapers Society President Hameed Haroon and Human Rights Watch Pakistan Director Ali Dayan Hasan, who both said they had received an email from Shahzad that highlighted a threat to his life.

Haroon and Hasan presented records of the emails they had received from Shahzad before his murder. In the e-mails, Shahzad expressed concerns about threats to his life and a veiled threat from officials of the Pakistan's military-run ISI

"The e-mails were found to be authentic," said Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Pervez Shaukat, a member of the commission.

Talking to the media after the hearing concluded at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court, Shaukat said the commission will take more time to complete its investigation as many senior journalists called to depose before the panel were not in the country.

"In the next hearing, the commission will record the statements of journalist Najam Sethi and the widow of Shahzad," he said. Shaukat said the commission is working "independently and fearlessly" under the supervision of a sitting judge of the apex court and there was no pressure on it from any corner.

The next hearing of the five-member commission will be held next week. Besides Shaukat, Federal Shariah Court Chief Justice Agha Rafiq and Punjab police chief Javed Iqbal attended yesterday's proceedings. Shahzad was abducted and killed days after he alleged in an article that al-Qaeda had infiltrated the Pakistan Navy.