LAHORE, May 9: It may be possible for Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to coexist with President General Pervez Musharraf if the latter withdraws the reference against the judge.

However, the situation will be quite different if Justice Chaudhry is reinstated as a result of the ongoing legal battle in the Supreme Court or under street pressure that is mounting by the day, the CJP’s counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan says.Replying to questions at a “Meet the Press” programme of the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday, Aitzaz said he was not in a position to say how long would the presidential reference take to decide, or whether some dramatic changes might take place at the political level before the apex court concluded its proceedings.

He saw no possibility of the imposition of martial law or justification for emergency rule, saying the Constitution was fully functional.

“What should the president have done under the Constitution after the prime minister had advised him to send a reference against the CJP?” a reporter asked.

Aitzaz replied that the president had the power to send a reference but his role was that of a postman’s.

He questioned the president’s power to call the CJP to his office - and that too when he was in his military uniform - ask questions and try to pressure him to tender resignation.

He said the president’s role in such a situation was to forward the reference to the Supreme Judicial Council immediately after receiving it from the prime minister.

Aitzaz said the details of the March 9 events as given by the president in an interview to a private TV channel had established that general’s words contradicted his actions that day.

When the CJP was still at the president’s camp office, going through the papers presented to him, how did the reference reach the Supreme Judicial Council and an acting president was sworn in? Aitzaz asked.

He said the president’s rhetoric that he was constrained to send the reference on the advice of the prime minister showed as if he was trying to find a scapegoat.

He denied that any attempt was made for reconciliation between the president and the CJP.

A reporter asked him if Justice Chaudhry would be able to maintain his impartiality on reinstatement after receiving support from political parties, Aitzaz said he had seen a number of “nonense advertisements” in newspapers on the same theme.

“Is there a judge who doesn’t have friends or rivals? If three judges can sit in the Supreme Judicial Council despite the fact that they would be beneficiaries of Justice Chaudhry’s removal, and despite the fact that some had strained relations with him, why would it not be possible for the CJP to dispense justice?” he argued.

He pointed out that although the CJP had visited so many places after March 9, he had not made a single political statement, nor visited the residence of any political leader.

In fact, he said, Justice Chaudhry had also not visited his residence although he was his counsel.

Aitzaz said the first politician who had met the CJP was Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who had been sent by the government with the proposal that the CJP should tender resignation.He denied that the CJP had involved himself in political activities.

As a matter of fact, Aitzaz said, it was Gen Musharraf who was addressing political rallies in violation of his oath as army chief.

Replying to a question, he said it was not the first option for the CJP to go to Quetta by train.

But in case he went by train, lawyers would hold receptions for him on railway stations along the way.

Aitzaz said the CJP would visit various bars in Punjab, a schedule for which would be finalised in due course.

A journalist pointed out that on the one hand the PPP was with Justice Chaudhry and on the other Ms Bhutto was saying that she could accept Gen Musharraf as president “if” she was made the prime minister.

“Every ‘if’ has a ‘but’ after it. Whatever has been attributed to Ms Bhutto is just speculative,” said Aitzaz, who was minister for law and interior during the Ms Bhutto’s two stints in power.

About the rally announced by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi for May 12, he said every party had the right to make such a plan.

However, he said, many MQM lawyers were confused and they did not know how it would be possible for them to go against public opinion.

He told a questioner that the government was financing advertisements being published by a section of the press and their main objective was to bring the judiciary and lawyers under pressure.

The campaign, he said, would fail to achieve its goals.