Mr Khan’s resignation from the post of the province’s chief law officer was accepted on Oct 1, 2007. He had tendered his resignation to Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad on July 25, 2007.
“I resigned because I had reason to believe that I was not being accepted by the Sindh government – or rather, by the chief minister,” Mr Khan said in an interview with Dawn on Thursday.
A former serviceman from the 46th PMA course, Mr Khan was appointed advocate-general by the then Sindh governor Mohammadmian Soomro on Nov 11, 2002, under Article 140 of the Constitution.
“For reasons best known to himself, the current chief minister always thought that I was an MQM man. When he interviewed me after assuming office in June 2004, he asked me if I belonged to the Muttahida Quami Movement. I replied in the negative.”
Mr Khan insisted his resignation had nothing to do with the May 12 case being heard by the Sindh High Court.
His working relationship with the chief minister broke down in January this year when he accepted, in his capacity as an independent lawyer, a case against well-known commodity trader Kamran Tessori. The chief minister, who is reported to be very thick with Mr Tessori, flew into a passion.
“My client had filed a suit against Mr Tessori for not returning a huge sum of money or gold. The chief minister called me and asked me to leave the case. I declined.”
Incensed, the chief minister bore a grudge against his chief law officer and struck when Mr Khan told a television channel shortly after the March 9 removal of the chief justice that Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was still the country’s top judge.
“The chief minister pounced on my statement and suggested that I should be thrown out immediately. I told the governor that I could tender my resignation if he wanted me to quit. He said he wanted me to continue. I flew to Islamabad to meet the then attorney-general Makhdoom Ali Khan when somebody from my office mistakenly faxed the resignation draft to newspaper offices. I feel that if the government had paid heed to my advice on the status of the chief justice then, things might not have come to such a pass.”
Mr Khan surprised many in the Sindh government when he went to Sukkur to receive the then suspended chief justice. The chief minister was particularly piqued. “He called me and demanded to know why I had gone to receive the chief justice. I told him that as the province’s chief law officer, it was my duty to receive the chief justice. In July, he called me again and asked why I was not resigning. I told him that my resignation letter was already with the governor. The governor accepted my resignation when it became clear to us that I would not be able to get along with the chief minister.”
The chief minister’s press secretary denied Mr Khan’s assertions.