RAWALPINDI, May 19 Former federal law minister Muhammad Wasi Zafar has for the the first time distanced himself from the reference filed against deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and said it had been filed without his knowledge.

It may be mentioned here that Mr Zafar was among the few ministers who vigorously defended the government when a controversy erupted over the reference.

In a statement issued on Monday, the former minister rejected former prime minister Shaukat Aziz`s claim that the reference had been sent to him by the law ministry and he merely forwarded it to the president after a `thorough analysis`.

Talking to DawnNews a few days ago, Mr Aziz had said he had fulfilled his `constitutional duty` by sending the reference to the president.

Wasi Zafar said he was surprised by the statement because the summary had not been signed by him as the law minister, adding the record could be checked.

The former law minister said he was not part of the team which had prepared the summary or filed the reference. “The procedure was kept secret from me. I learnt about the reference through my own sources,” Mr Zafar said.

He said the government had asked him to defend the reference and as a federal law minister he only carried out his responsibility.

Mr Zafar, who did not get a PML-Q ticket for the general elections, said that being a federal minister he had two options either to defend the reference or to quit the government. He said he opted for the former course, adding that he could not resign because of “weakness and cowardice”.

He also said if he had known about the reference beforehand, he could have hand- led the issue in a `much better way`.

“Even after I learnt about the reference, I expressed my reservations and pointed out mistakes in it,” he added.