ISLAMABAD, March 11: A remark by Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani to journalists here on Sunday that big news was waiting for them at the residence of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry turned out to be either a deliberate misinformation or misplaced optimism.
All that the journalists, who rushed to the sealed-off place, got there was a cold bath in the rain and an assurance that the chief justice and his family were fine in their confinement.
After a fruitless three-hour vigil, the journalists returned wondering whether it was a case of misinformation or the news the minister was hoping for did not materialise.
The information minister was expected to turn up at the place but he did not. "I had to go to the prime minister," he told Dawn when contacted.
While the journalists were waiting in the rain for ‘the news’ they saw four brother judges of the confined chief justice driving into his residence.
One of them, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, who had been denied entry into the house on Saturday, was mobbed by journalists when he came out. "Woh theek hain (He is fine)," he told the journalists.
His wife added: "I came to see his family. They too are fine."
The other three Supreme Court judges, who were allowed to meet their confined chief on Sunday, were Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali and Justice Nasirul Mulk.
