Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has sharply criticized Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial for stopping an investigation into leaked audios of alleged conversations between the relatives of judges.

He said the CJP was creating a legacy that would be “shameful” — aesi riwayaat qabil sharm hongi.

The defence minister was speaking on the floor of the National Assembly Tuesday. He questioned how a top judge could sit on a bench that was hearing a case that involved allegations against his very self.

The government had formed the audio leaks commission under the puisne Justice Qazi Faez Isa precisely in order to meet the criteria for justice.

The government did not include a member of parliament on the commission and neither did it include anyone outside the judiciary, he said.

Asif said that the government had wanted to dispel the impression that a “one-man show” was running in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

We don’t want a clash between institutions, he said, adding that one institution cannot interfere in the affairs of another.

The harsh language from the defense minister came shortly after the government filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking CJP Bandial and two judges—Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar—to recuse themselves from the five-judge bench hearing petitions against the audio leaks commission.