WASHINGTON, May 17: Former prime minister Shaukat Aziz has acknowledged sending a reference against the former chief justice to the president but he says it was not politically motivated.

In an interview with DawnNews TV, Mr Aziz conceded that the country experienced an acute energy shortage at the end of his reign but said it was a crisis nobody could foresee.

Mr Aziz, who is often accused of being a second fiddle to President Pervez Musharraf, said this was an impression created by his rivals as it was he who took most day-to-day decisions.

“The law ministry sent the reference to me and I referred it to the president as required by the Constitution,” said the former prime minister.

The reference against the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, started the process that led to a humiliating defeat for the former ruling party in the elections.

A popular backlash against the decision to depose the chief justice also forced President Musharraf to hold fair and free elections and allow rival politicians to return to Pakistan and participate in those elections.

Asked if he regretted being part of the unpopular move, Mr Aziz said: “The matter is now before the courts. Let them make a judgement.”

The former prime minister disagreed with the suggestion that he initiated the move against the chief justice because the judge had undone the Karachi Steel Mills deal he had put together.

Mr Aziz claimed the reference was also not linked to the chief justice’s refusal to back President Musharraf’s decision to seek re-election from an outgoing parliament. “No, we received the reference through appropriate channels and sent it to the president,” he said.

The government, he said, also followed the Constitution when it forwarded the reference to the Supreme Judicial Council.

Mr Aziz said the recent food and energy crises were linked to a sudden rise in oil prices and in May 2007, when his government was making its last budget “nobody could foresee that the price of oil will shoot from $60 to $126 a barrel” in just a few months.

The former prime minister, however, acknowledged that his government failed to control “leakages” to other countries and “domestic hoarding” that contributed to a shortage of food in Pakistan.

An unusually cold winter last year also contributed to the current power crisis, said Mr Aziz, adding that his government could not have “forced the glaciers to melt.”

With gasoline selling at $126 a barrel, Pakistan cannot afford to use oil for producing electricity. “The answer is in the hydel power. We need to build new dams.”

Mr Aziz claimed that his government started several hydel and nuclear projects for producing electricity but such projects cannot be built overnight.

“No country, no leadership likes to use force against its own people,” said Mr Aziz when asked why did the government kill Nawab Akbar Bugti. “A government uses force only when it cannot be avoided.”

Mr Aziz said he does not have any immediate plan to go back to politics. “We have three children and three grandchildren who were ignored when I was in government. Now I would like to spend time with them.”

He said he would continue to do whatever he could for Pakistan as “you do not have to be in the government to serve your country”.Mr Aziz disclosed that he is working on a book on his eight-year-long association with the government and proceeds from this book will be distributed among charities in Pakistan.