Fresh charges levelled against Chaudhry

Top brass of intelligence agencies on Thursday accused the suspended Chief Justice of using their organisations for spying on fellow judges several months before his ouster.

Seeking to turn the tables on Pakistan's suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry, the top brass of intelligence agencies on Thursday accused him of using their organisations for spying on fellow judges several months before his ouster.

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In a sensational turn to the case regarding Chaudhry, whose suspension caused a national crisis, the jurist was also accused of suggesting to President Pervez Musharraf to dissolve his government and make him head of an interim regime.

Chiefs of Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as Musharraf's Chief of Staff Gen (Retd) Hamid Javed charged the judge with frequently interacting with them and freely using their agencies for to keep a tab on fellow judges.

The officials in their separate counter-affidavits were responding to Chaudhry's affidavit before the Supreme Court last month in which he accused Musharraf, Premier Shaukat Aziz and Heads of the intelligence agencies of pressuring him to quit with offers to "accomodate him."

In his affidavit, MI Director General Maj Gen Mian Nadeem Ijaz Ahmad said Chaudhry used to "task him on a regular basis to provide information on judges in Punjab so (that) he (Chaudhry) could build a database for his own reference".

"He(Chaudhry) was of the view that the president should dissolve the assemblies as they were becoming a nuisance and hold elections udner the Chief Justice of Pakistan.He wanted me to assure all concerned that he (CJP) will make things very smooth," IB Chief Brigadier (Retd) Ijaz Ahmad Shah said while recalling how Chaudhry once called him over for a discussion which was on the political situation.