ISLAMABAD, 17 July 2007 — The government yesterday withdrew accusation of misconduct against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

During his arguments before the 13-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday, government’s attorney pleaded that paragraph 34 of the presidential reference be deleted. He said the government intends to delete certain passages from the reference.

The attorney said the president had sent the case to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on the advice of the prime minister but he has not been made a party in Justice Chaudhry’s petition challenging the composition of the council.

Chaudhry’s lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan said when the government wants to withdraw certain paragraphs or passages why does it not withdraw the entire case.

The government should withdraw the entire case, he said. However, Ramday said the government could drop part of its complaint if it wished.

Justice Ramday said that composition of the SJC minus the chief justice was a complicated matter. The Supreme Court is expected to give its ruling on the president’s reference against Chaudhry this week.

After the withdrawal of the misconduct charge, Chaudhry still faces other accusations that the Supreme Court is due to rule on.

Sharifuddin Pirzada, the lawyer representing President Pervez Musharraf in the case, told the Supreme Court the government had asked that an accusation against Chaudhry — that there were times when the judge gave differing written and verbal orders — be withdrawn.

“We are withdrawing this portion of the reference,” Pirzada told the court. He said he had “instructions from the prime minister and the president” to delete two passages from their complaint against Chaudhry. In the sections being withdrawn, the government accused Chaudhry of issuing written verdicts in at least two cases that were at odds with decisions announced earlier in the court. It also insinuated that money may have influenced the cases, without offering details.

The government has not officially disclosed the accusations against Chaudhry, but newspapers have reported the main one appeared to be that he used his influence to help his son get a government job.

The government filed a separate statement in the Supreme Court last month accusing Chaudhry of fiddling expenses, harassing judges, showing bias in appointments and intimidating police and civil servants.

The uproar over Chaudhry’s suspension snowballed into the most serious challenge to Musharraf’s rule since he took over in 1999, and comes in the run-up to elections, due late this year.

The court’s decision in May to stay proceedings in the judicial tribunal and hear the appeal was the first victory for the embattled judge.

President Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9 after drawing up a set of accusations — known as a reference — against him.

The judge’s suspension touched off a protest campaign by lawyers defending the independence of the judiciary. They were joined by opposition parties seeking an end to army chief Musharraf’s rule.

Musharraf insists he had no political motive in asking a judicial complaints tribunal to examine the allegations against Chaudhry.

Musharraf is expected to seek re-election by sitting national and provincial assemblies, before they are dissolved for a general election.

There are also doubts he will give up his army post, which he is constitutionally required to do by the end of the year.