LAHORE, June 25: Asma Jahangir, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has said that the issue of Dr Arsalan Iftikhar and Malik Riaz is a conspiracy to harass judges and wrap up the democratic process in the country.

Talking to reporters at the Lahore High Court on Monday, she rejected an allegation that she had any role in the Arsalan-Riaz case and said she had never met Malik Riaz in her life.

Ms Jahangir also said the PPP government had sent a bad message to the masses by electing Raja Pervez Ashraf as prime minister because he was an accused in the rental power project scandal. She said that Mr Ashraf should not have been elected as the chief executive of the country.

She said if the Supreme Court wanted a letter to be written to Swiss authorities, it should ask its registrar or the attorney general to do so.  She said the country had been made hostage to two issues: an apology from the US and a letter to the Swiss government.