ISLAMABAD: The high-profile case of Pakistan's suspended Chief Justice took a dramatic turn on Tuesday after the jurist accused President Pervez Musharraf, Premier Shaukat Aziz and chiefs of intelligence agencies of physically restraining him from leaving the Presidential office for over five hours on March 9 when he declined to resign.
As arguments on suspended judge Iftikhar M Chaudhry's petition questioning the Presidential reference accusing him of misconduct and misuse of authority drew to a close after two weeks of hearing, the jurist sprang a surprise by filing an affidavit alleging that he was confined for over five hours at Musharraf's camp office in Rawalpindi during which he was pressured to quit.
The petition is being heard by a 13-member full bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court.
Giving for the first time his side of the account of the day of his suspension, Chaudhry said he was "grilled" for over five hours by Musharraf, Aziz and Director Generals of ISI, Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) and was physically restrained from leaving the Army house in Rawalpindi, which is the President's temporary office.
Chaudhry's affidavit was filed by his lead counsel, Aitezaz Ahesan, after he concluded his arguments on the judge's main petition before the bench challenging the Presidential reference.
The new allegations are expected to trigger a fresh furore against the Musharraf regime as the lawyers' organisations and opposition parties have mounted a biggest-ever offensive against the military-backed government for ill-treating the Chief Justice.
In his affidavit, Chaudhry claimed Musharraf insisted that he should resign. Musharraf also said that in case of his resignation, he would "accommodate" him.
Musharraf also said in case of his refusal to resign, Chaudhry will have to face the reference, "which could be a bigger embarrassment" for the suspended judge, the jurist alleged.
Chaudhry "finally and more resolutely said 'I wouldn't resign and would face any reference since I am innocent; I have not violated any code of conduct or any law, rule or regulation; I believe that I am myself the guardian of law. I strongly believe in God who will help me'
"This ignited the fury" of Musharraf who "stood up angrily and left the room along with his MS (Military Secretary), COS (Chief of Staff) and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, saying that others would show evidence" to him, Chaudhry's affidavit said.
Chaudhry alleged that he was "illegally and unlawfully restrained from performing his constitutional functions as a judge of this Honourable Court and as Chief Justice of Pakistan" and sent on compulsory leave by Musharraf for his refusal to resign.
He also gave graphic details of what happened to him when he went to see Musharraf on March 9 and the subsequent events during which he was allegedly confined to his house, manhandled by police when he along with his wife tried to walk to the apex court to attend a hearing by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
Chaudhry said on March 9 he went to meet Musharraf after disposing of cases in the court. His petition, however, was silent whether he went to see the President on his own or was summoned. Musharraf has already said Chaudhry came to see him on his own.
After five minutes of Chaudhry's arrival at the President's camp office, Musharraf "wearing his Military Uniform came into the room along with his MS and ADC," the affidavit said. As soon as the military ruler took his seat, "a number of TV cameramen and photographers were also ushered into the room. They took several pictures and made movie footage."
It said initially the discussions focussed on SAARC Law Conference, SAARC Chief Justices' meet in Karachi, which was subsequently cancelled, and the concluding session of the Golden Jubilee ceremony of the Supreme Court.
After that Musharraf said a complaint against Chaudhry had been received by him from a Judge of Peshawar High Court.
"Chaudhry replied that it was not based on true facts as his case had been decided by a two-member bench and that attempts were being made to maliciously involve the other member of the Bench as well," according to the affidavit. On this, Musharraf said there were a few more complaints against Chaudhry as well. "After saying so, he directed his staff to call the other persons."
On the direction of Musharraf, "the 'other persons' entered the room. They included the Prime Minster, DG MI, DG ISI, DG IB, COS and another official. All officials (except DG, IB and COS) were in uniform," Chaudhry's petition said.
Musharraf "started reading from small pieces of paper with notes on them which he had in his hand. There was no single consolidated document. The allegations which were being put ... had been taken from the contents of a notorious letter written by Naeem Bukhari with absolutely no substance in them."
Bukhari, a lawyer and journalist wrote the letter to Chaudhry before March 9 making several allegations and challenged him to prosecute him under contempt of court but Chaudhry said he ignored it.
Chaudhry refuted the charges as "being baseless and engineered to defame him personally and the judiciary as a whole," the affidavit said, adding he "promptly denied the veracity and credibility of these allegations as well."
After this, the petition said Musharraf accused him of obtaining cars, including a Mercedes, from the Supreme Court for his family which Chaudhry said he vehemently denied.
Then Musharraf charged him with interfering in the affairs of the Lahore High Court and not heeding to most of its recommendations.
The meeting continued for not more than 30 minutes.
After Musharraf left, "The DG MI, DG ISI and DG IB remained behind and continued to sit with" Chaudhry, the affidavit said, adding they did not show the judge a single piece of evidence. "In fact, no official except DG ISI had some documents with him but he also did not show anything."
During the hearing on Tuesday, Ahsan alleged in the apex court today that Musharraf held "personal malice" against Chaudhry and wanted him removed from office.
He charged that Musharraf wanted to "humble, humiliate and subjugate" the top jurist.
Musharraf's prime concern was not properly investigating the charges against Chaudhry, "but just to remove the Chief Justice from his office," Ahsan claimed. "This is the personal malice I'm alleging.... The malice is of the President."
He said he would provide evidence of "malice" later in his arguments.
"If the President had acted constitutionally, he should have been a post office," Ahsan said, meaning it was Musharraf's role to merely convey information.
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