ISLAMABAD, July 28: As the nation watched with bated breath, a cautious Supreme Court delayed the anticipated ‘head-on collision’ with the government for another 24 hours. The court gave the attorney general another day to meet the prime minister to reconsider the placing of establishment secretary Sohail Ahmed as OSD and put off the proceedings till Friday.

“Convey to the competent authority (prime minister) that we are aware of our limitations but when officials are aggrieved, they approach the courts which have the powers of judicial review,” observed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry while pointing at Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq who was earlier directed by the court to meet Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and personally explain the court’s order about reinstating Sohail Ahmed.

Sohail Ahmed was made OSD (officer on special duty) after he, following the court’s orders on Tuesday, issued a notification without the consent of the prime minister to bring Hussain Asghar back to the position of FIA director to resume investigation into the Haj corruption case. Mr Asghar was promoted by the government and posted as Inspector General Police of Gilgit-Baltistan apparently to slow the pace of probe into the Haj scandal.

“Now it has become a matter of principle and you people should give a good message that you stand by the Constitution,” the chief justice observed while heading a six-member bench that had taken up the Haj scandal case.

“It will not be a good precedence to go for constitutional deviations,” the chief justice observed, adding: “You (government) must support bureaucracy as stressed by the founding father.

“We are aware of government’s sincerity but dillydallying with the court is not a good thing,” the chief justice observed.

Maulvi Anwarul Haq informed the bench about a meeting he had with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to convey the feelings of the court and explain legal and constitutional provisions regarding Wednesday’s Supreme Court directions to reinstate Sohail Ahmed.

“I had a long meeting with the prime minister who has also asked me that he will hold another meeting for his response,” the AG said and requested the court that he should be granted time till Monday.

However, the chief justice observed that it was not possible to reconstitute the larger bench for weeks as many other cases of general public had to be attended. He made it clear that the matter could not be left due to non-availability of the bench.

The chief justice again asked the AG to submit in writing on Friday about his meeting with the prime minister on which Maulvi Anwarul Haq assured the court that he would comply by filing the required comments in chambers.

About the transfer of Gilgit-Baltistan IGP Hussain Asghar, both AG and FIA Director General Tehseen Anwar Shah said they were informed that Mr Asghar had left Skurdu by road on July 26 but could not reach Islamabad so far.

The FIA chief said efforts were being made to contact Mr Asghar but his cellphone was not responding. He assured the court that he would be reassigned to continue investigation of the Haj scandal the moment he arrived in Islamabad.

The court observed that it was amazing that an officer of the rank of IGP despite having received information through fax regarding notification of his posting as FIA director had failed to reach Islamabad.