ISLAMABAD, April 21: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was aware of President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to file a reference against him much before meeting him at the presidential camp office in Rawalpindi on March 9’, Dawn has learnt.
A well-placed source said it was not unexpected for the chief justice to hear a list of allegations which he seemed to be well prepared to contest at the meeting where the president appeared in army chief’s uniform.
Another source said a tip off originating from a federal cabinet minister enabled the chief justice to be mentally prepared to effectively respond to the allegations.
Asked how the information could have been conveyed to the chief justice, the source said it was possible the minister had shared the news with a family member who then passed it on to the judge. The source had no information if the leak was deliberate or a case of lack of caution.
However, the source said the chief justice had come to know about the establishment’s move about 10 days before it was made public, to be received with immediate denunciations across the country.
“By the time he was summoned to the president's Rawalpindi Camp Office, the chief justice had charted his course of action. This includes challenging the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and later on to file a petition against the president's decision of sending the reference against him," the source said.
According to the source, the minister from whom the leak originated came to know about the government's intention from a highly-placed source in the establishment who was part and parcel of the team that formulated the reference.
Another source said the information was leaked to the minister after a cabinet meeting held before the suspension of the chief justice.
"That is for sure that the chief justice was aware of the government's move," the source said and added that he was quite confident while meeting President Musharraf in Rawalpindi. The source said President Musharraf had had cordial relations with the chief justice but these were soured mainly after the Supreme Court scrapped the sale of the Pakistan Steel Mills.
