ISLAMABAD, March 12: Federal Minister for Information Muhammad Ali Durrani said on Monday that it was for the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to decide about replacing its members if the record of any one or more judges of the SJC was found blemished or any reference was pending against any of its members.

The minister was replying to a question about a newspaper report that there were three out of five members of the present SJC against whom complaints of misconduct or references were pending in the council.

Speaking at a news conference here, the minister justified disconnection of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s telephones, and insisted that judges were not expected to get involved in politics for which they could be contacted by telephones.

He rejected allegations that the CJP had been detained or his children stopped from going to educational institutions. “He (the chief justice) is meeting those he wished to meet,” the minister claimed.

Asked to comment on PML President Chaudhry Shujaat’s remarks in New York that it was a tussle between army and judiciary, the minister said the issue was not a political but a constitutional one.

He said the presidential reference was not based on any letter. Referring to Monday’s countrywide strike by lawyers, Mr Durrani claimed that with the exception of Lahore, courts in the country remained open and kept functioning.