The meeting took place at a time when Islamabad was rife with speculations of an imminent showdown between the executive and the judiciary after a statement by Fauzia Wahab, the People's Party's information secretary. - File Photo.

ISLAMABAD Anwar Mansoor Khan, who resigned as attorney general on Friday, met Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in Karachi on Saturday, apparently to clear his name and explain the reason for his resignation.

Mr Khan lives in Karachi while the chief justice is in the city for a week to hear a host of cases, along with Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday.

The meeting took place at a time when Islamabad was rife with speculations of an imminent showdown between the executive and the judiciary after a statement by Fauzia Wahab, the People's Party's information secretary.

According to sources, many in the PPP felt things were looking ominous. They said an influential lobby within the party was trying to convince Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of the need to intervene so as to defuse the crisis arising out of the resignation of Anwar Mansoor.

“We see the prime minister's role soon for creating a space in the government's favour in a similar fashion he did earlier to resolve a row between the judiciary and the executive over appointment of judges,” a well-placed source told Dawn.

Ms Wahab told reporters at the Sukkur airport that nobody should expect the government to send letters to Swiss authorities or any foreign country by accusing its own head of state of committing a crime, saying the president enjoyed a “clear immunity” in his own country.

“We are not going to write to any foreign government,” she was reported to have said.

Legal experts attached great significance to the one-on-one meeting between the chief justice and the former attorney-general against the backdrop of a controversy created after the AG's resignation.

Mr Mansoor did not say anything about the meeting, but told a TV channel that he was facing problems from day one because of the perceived reservations by the law minister over his appointment, which aggravated after the apex court's order of reopening money laundering cases in Swiss courts.

He said that after the SC judgment on the NRO the National Accountability Bureau had avoided reopening many corruption cases of political nature because of pressure.

In another development, Law Minister Babar Awan went to the attorney general's office in the Supreme Court building and transferred the entire staff, including his secretary Jehangir Ali Sheikh, personal secretary Hameed Awan, research officer Sarfraz Ahmed, clerk Itrat Mehmood and even his driver Matloob Hussain Shah. They have been asked to report to the law ministry.

During his 45-minute visit, Mr Awan took a round of the AG office and defended his position. He said his ministry knew its responsibilities and was fulfilling them. He said his position was clear before the government and parliament. Everything was being done professionally and he was performing the duties assigned to him, the minister added.

Referring to the verdict on the National Reconciliation Ordinance, Mr Awan recalled that the Supreme Court had issued nine orders and most of them had been met.

ADVICE TO GOVT

Senior lawyers have urged the government to appoint as the attorney general a man who should be independent, upright and commands respect from all quarters. “Only this way such a man will be able to act as a conduit to create a comfort zone for the government,” they said.

A senior counsel suggested a change in the law ministry to ease the ongoing temperature. He was of the opinion that the government should plead its case before the Supreme Court on the basis of a statement by Daniel Zappelli, the public prosecutor of the Swiss canton of Geneva, that it would be impossible to reopen money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari because he enjoyed immunity as the head of state.

“Both the executive and the judiciary should find a way to resolve the issue as irritants piling up at the back-end will be explosive,” he told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

Advocate Tariq Mehmood, who was in the forefront of the lawyers' movement for restoration of judiciary, said he feared strong speeches at ceremonies to mark the 31st death anniversary of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, which would further deepen the crisis.

Advocate Rasheed A. Razvi said that non-cooperation by the law ministry would create the same situation for the next attorney general and make him ineffective before the apex court.