PAKPATTAN, March 17: President Pervez Musharraf has defended his decision to suspend Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and said that he has no personal differences with the judge.

Addressing a public meeting here after inaugurating a gas supply project on Saturday, Gen Musharraf said the government had sent a reference against the chief justice to him and as president it was his constitutional duty to send it to the Supreme Judicial Council. He said he had only acted upon the advice of the government on the issue, adding: “It is purely a constitutional matter.”

“I am blamed for everything,” PTV quoted him as saying. He said he had “no personal differences” with Justice Chaudhry.

He termed Friday’s police attack on a television channel’s office in Islamabad a conspiracy aimed at tarnishing his image.

—APP/AP