HYDERABAD, June 13: Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has alleged unknown hands had brought the Dr Arsalan Iftikhar-Riaz Malik affair to limelight in order to stop the Chief Justice of Pakistan from pursuing cases of missing persons.

He said in a statement on Wednesday that Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had led a struggle for the independence of judiciary, pursued cases of missing persons and ensured speedy justice to people.

Dr Magsi said during the past 65 years the judiciary had remained subservient to the executive, but the present chief justice had done a lot to restore dignity of courts and judicial independence. “The Dr Arsalan-Riaz Malik affair is aimed at character assassination of CJP and can be termed a war on judiciary.”

He advised the government to refrain from “treading on the path of Musharraf by curbing judicial independence”.