ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Caretaker Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz said on Monday that the deposed judges, including Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, were not under detention and they were free to go anywhere in the country.

“The government will facilitate them if they want to move to their native places,” he said while talking to reporters after attending the foundation-stone laying ceremony of a new immigration and passport complex.

“If the judges want to go to their homes they should ask the government and necessary arrangements would be made,” he said.

In reply to a question, the minister said the government had not issued notices to the judges to vacate their accommodation and they could retain their official residences till the end of this month. He, however, said that newly-appointed judges would also need official accommodation.

Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry made two attempts last week to move out of his official residence in the Judges Colony but was not allowed to do so.

The lawyers’ community is of the view that the government wants to send the deposed judges to their private homes to support its contention that they were no more in service.

About the return of PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharif, the minister said he had left the country as a result of an understanding with the Saudi royal family and obviously he had come back on a clear understanding with the Saudi government.The minister categorically stated that Mr Sharif would not be arrested. Answering a question about the military operation in Swat, he said the situation in Swat would become normal within a week.

He said the number of terrorists had remarkably declined in the area.

“But still there are a few who are threatening the people and spreading rumours that they have occupied certain positions,” he said.

About the detention of political leaders and lawyers, he said efforts were under way to release all of them.

He said Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan was free to go to anywhere and the security provided to him was meant for his own safety.