ISLAMABAD, March 11: The government on Sunday said that details of the presidential reference were not known to anyone as long as the same came up for the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) hearing and whatever remarks about Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry were coming in the press did not necessarily make part of the said reference.
Speaking at a joint news conference at the PML house, Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani and PML secretary-general Senator Mushahid Hussain pointed out that whatever Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Rahim or anyone else had said in the press was not considered as essential portion of the presidential reference.
In reply to a question regarding wish of the chief justice to make his trial open in the SJC, Mr Durrani said: "The trial will strictly be held in accordance with the course already determined in the Constitution."
About lawyer organisations’ threat to stage a sit-in outside the premises where the SJC will hold trial of Justice Chaudhry, the minister said: "All such lawyers, who were challenging the writ of law, should have surrendered their membership of bars before taking such an extreme step.”
When asked while Justice Chaudhry was kept in confinement and was not allowed to give his version before the press, different government functionaries were giving statements in defence of the reference, both Mr Mushahid and Mr Durrani said: "They are only clarifying the facts agitated by the opposition and have refrained so far from giving personal comments.”
They also rejected an allegation that the government had deliberately started a confrontation with the judiciary to undermine judicial activism and said: "There is neither crisis nor any confrontation but a constitutional and legal process set in motion to take its legal course."
When asked how could the SJC hold proceedings while newspaper reports say the notification of formal constitution of the said body had taken place after the filing of reference, Mr Durrani said: "This body is in existence in accordance with the constitutional provisions and the whole proceedings were being carried out within the provisions of the original 1973 Constitution."
Asked why the CJ was confined to his residence and was not allowed to meet anyone at his own will, the minister said that Justice Chaudhry was a judge and he was not expected to be a politician.
He said that a number of dignitaries, including Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, had met Justice Chaudhry and many more would hold meetings with him in due course of time.
He clarified that the CJ’s meeting with President Musharraf was prescheduled and added that it was held at President’s Rawalpindi camp office and not the Army House.
