Pakistan PM should quit if judge vindicated-lawyer

ISLAMABAD, June 8 (Reuters) Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should resign if the Supreme Court rejects the government's accusations of misconduct against the country's suspended chief justice, a government lawyer said today.

The suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 touched off protests from lawyers and the opposition which have snowballed into the the most serious challenge to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf since he seized power in 1999.

Musharraf lodged a complaint, known as a reference, against Chaudhry on March 9 on the advice of Aziz, and the prime minister should step down if the Supreme Court rejected it, senior government lawyer Malik Abdul Qayyum told Reuters.

''If the Supreme Court rules that the reference is mala fide, then the prime minister should resign,'' said Qayyum, who has been arguing the government's case in a Supreme Court hearing.

Aziz is a former Citibank executive who is credited with turning around Pakistan's economic fortunes after Musharraf, who is also army chief, picked him to become prime minister in 2004.

Aziz was not available for comment.

For nearly a month, the Supreme Court has been listening to legal arguments aimed at determining what judicial body should rule on the accusations of misconduct in the reference. A ruling on the reference is not expected for some time.

Chaudhry's suspension sparked a countrywide campaign by lawyers and opposition parties for the restoration of full democracy, and comes in the run-up to elections.

Musharraf has a controversial plan to be re-elected by the sitting national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election around the end of the year.

But he is believed to be reluctant to give up his post of army chief as he is constitutionally required to.

Analysts believe Musharraf's main motive for seeking to dismiss Chaudhry stemmed from doubts the judge would be supportive in the event of constitutional challenges to the president's plans.

''FAIRY TALES'' Although the government has not announced details of the accusations against Chaudhry, some of them were revealed on Thursday in a statement to the Supreme Court by Musharraf's Chief of Staff, Hamid Javaid.

According to Javaid, the accusations included fiddling expenses, harassing fellow judges, being biased in their appointments and intimidating police and civil servants.

The government also alleged that cars bought with government money were used by Chaudhry's family and that he obtained a plot of land in Karachi eight years ago that he was not entitled to.

Javaid's account portrayed Chaudhry as a publicity hungry judge who insisted on full protocol and liked expensive cars.

In another statement to the court, the head of military intelligence said Chaudhry wanted Musharraf to dissolve parliament and let him oversee elections months before he was suspended.

Chaudhry had earlier accused the intelligence chief of pressuring him to resign.

Chaudhry's leading lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, dismissed the statements as ''fabrication and fairy tales''.

Reuters SLD GC1525