The Post quoted Mr Abdul Qayyum former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills as saying that main reason behind the clash between President Mr Pervez Musharraf and former chief justice Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was the Supreme Court's decision to stop the privatization of the Steel Mills.

Mr Qayyum said that Mr Shaukat Aziz suddenly took the decision of privatizing the Steel Mills. He said that when the case was being heard by a full court of the Supreme Court, President Musharraf called Justice Iftikhar and asked him that the case should be decided in a manner that it does not cause any loss to the country. To this, Justice Iftikhar said, “You shouldn’t worry. I will decide the case in the best interest of the country.” The next day when the Supreme Court judgment in the case came, it was totally against the expectations of the president. It was then that a row between the president and the then chief justice ensued.

Mr Qayyum, who also heads the Pakistan Ordnance Factory, said that the deposed judges were men of character and took the decision after deeply analyzing the case.