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Islamabad, Oct 17 (ANI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s beleaguered administration and the country’s judiciary could be on a collision course, as the apex court sent out a warning that any government plan to fire the high court’s judges would amount to treason.

SC Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry’s remarks appeared to be aimed at preempting what he and the rest of the high court perceived as a potential move by Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to oust them before they could rule on the Swiss case against Zardari, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Outside the Supreme Court yesterday, lawyers chanting anti-Zardari slogans vowed to take action if they felt the government posed a threat to the high court.

“If need be, we will once again hit the streets of Pakistan,” said Qazi Anwar, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

“We will light such a fire that it will engulf even the rulers. The politicians should not test the nerves of this nation,” he added.

Meanwhile, Gilani and Information Minister, Qamar Zaman Kaira, have vehemently denied the news reports that they have moved to fire the judges, calling such stories “baseless rumour.”

Chaudhry acknowledged that the court was basing its concerns on television reports that the government was considering a plan to rescind the March 2009 restoration of Chaudhry and other Supreme Court justices, who had been fired by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

Although the news reports did not identify sources and their accuracy remained in question, they sent shockwaves through the high court and legal circles.

Following the airing of the news reports, Chaudhry summoned other Supreme Court justices around midnight to discuss the matter, and later in a hearing, ordered the government to submit in writing an assurance that it was not seeking the dismissal of high court judges.

Chaudhry insisted that the assurance be signed by Gilani, and also ordered the government to track down the source of the news reports.

Responding to the government’s denials, he told Attorney General, Maulvi Anwarul Haq, who represented the government at the hearing, “This news is not false.”

The new drama is the latest chapter in a longstanding feud that dates back to the early days of Zardari’s presidency, when he initially balked at reinstating Chaudhry as the SC Chief Justice, reportedly fearing that he would allow proceedings against the old corruption charges against him. (ANI)