LAHORE, April 19: Former Supreme Court bar president Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum retired says the judiciary does not mean the chief justice of Pakistan alone and all the judges who are being maligned through allegations of bias need to be protected.

In a statement here on Thursday, he said these judges were unable to defend themselves because of the decorum of their offices. “IT is for the dignity and prestige of the judges that I am appearing before the Supreme Court,” he said in response to bars’ criticism.

Qayyum said he had rejected government offers to represent it against chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry before the Supreme Judicial Council. He clarified that he was not a counsel for the government in the presidential reference. “I will only be discussing legal issues in the Supreme Court as a counsel in the two petitions pending there.”