IANS

London, Nov 12 (mb): Pakistan's intelligence agency sent some Supreme Court judges and their children secretly-filmed videos of them having sex with lovers or prostitutes in a bid to blackmail them ahead of a key ruling on President Pervez Musharraf, a British newspaper reported Sunday.

Videos were sent out to at least three of the 11 Supreme Court judges in September ahead of their ruling on whether Musharraf was eligible to run for president while still army chief, The Sunday Times reported.

One video showed a judge with his young mistress while another was of a judge's daughter having sex with a boyfriend - and the ISI even threatened Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry with an anonymous letter implying sexual impropriety.

"The message was clear - If you rule the wrong way, these will become public and your family destroyed," a British barrister, who was told about the tapes by a Pakistani counterpart, was quoted as saying.

The Supreme Court gave an ambiguous ruling in October, allowing Musharraf to be elected but declaring that they would decide on his eligibility later.

But before they could rule on his eligibility, Musharraf declared a state of emergency Nov 3.

The paper said it was the judiciary - rather than terrorists - that appears to have been the Musharraf's principal target, and pointed to a key role played by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

"The ISI has been reeling from Supreme Court rulings this year, which have exposed illegal operations such as the kidnapping of Baluch nationalists and the detention and torture of terrorist suspects in secret jails."