“I will never resign voluntarily. I have done nothing wrong,” Chaudhry responded when he was contacted on phone by the President of Supreme Court Bar Association Munir A Malik yesterday. The Supreme Judicial Council will meet here on March 13 to hear allegations levelled against Chaudhry, even as the government warned lawyers of severe action if they laid siege to the meeting.

Chaudhry also told Malik that he would contest the charges of corruption and misuse of authority levelled by President Pervez Musharraf who removed him from his post on March 9. Mallik offered him the support of the legal fraternity, including the SCBA. He also told reporters that it appeared that the suspended Chief Justice was not a free man and was being pressurised to resign.

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) today described the action to prevent the public from meeting Chaudhry as a case of “illegal house arrest”. “He is under illegal detention,” Vice-Chairman of PBC Ali Ahmed Kurd said, adding that “There is no other way to describe the situation as no one is being allowed to meet him.”

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao has warned the lawyers of severe action if they carried out their threat to lay a siege to SJC meeting. The SCBA which has called a strike from tomorrow said its members would also lay a siege to the SJC meeting. Sherpao accused Chaudhry of using influence to get a job for his son Arsalan in the police. “How would have we known Arsalan had he not been the CJ’s son,” he told The News. He further claimed that both the father and the son asked the government for the favour. “We had made it clear that Arsalan could not be inducted into the police service,” he said.

A joint petition was filed in the Supreme Court yesterday by Advocates Athar Minallah and Yahya Khan Afridi against the President’s move to suspend the Chief Justice. They urged the court to declare the March 9 decision and detention of the Chief Justice as illegal and unconstitutional. The SJC should suspend its proceedings till a decision on this petition, the advocates said.

Meanwhile, a joint meeting of the SCBA and the PBC adopted another resolution accusing the authorities of trying to obtain Chaudhry’s resignation by force. All bar councils and bar associations have decided to observe a Black Day on March 13. The two associations also demanded that the proceedings be held in an open court with lawyers and journalists attending.

The Punjab Bar Council also cancelled the licence of advocate Naeem Bokhari, who wrote a letter to Chaudhry alleging misuse of authority and seen by some as the tool used by the President to remove the Chief Justice. Bokhari was barred from practising law in the province.