Someone 'will have to take responsibility'

Islamabad: Pakistan's new attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum has said if the Supreme Court in its awaited detailed verdict established that there was an ill intent in filing the reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry then the person held responsible should quit.

"Both the president and the prime minister, in my opinion, moved the reference without any ill intent, but if any mala fide is proved in the detailed judgment of the Supreme Court, then someone would have to take responsibility and quit his office," reports in national dailies yesterday quoted him as saying.

Qayyum, who was counsel of the federation in the chief justice case decided on July 20 by the Supreme Court that overturned his suspension by the government, talked to reporters on Thursday after taking over as attorney general.

He replaced Makhdoom Ali Khan who resigned following the Supreme Court verdict.

Qayyum said both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had accepted the Supreme Court judgment, which was hailed throughout the country as a turning point in the judicial history of the country.

Asked if a new reference could be filed against the chief justice, the attorney general said: "No. This will not happen again. As long as I am present [as attorney general] there will be no new reference."