THE indications that the President intends fighting back on the issue of the Supreme Court verdict on the NRO apart, one can foresee pressure building up, from different directions, to compel him to discard the conspiracy theories that, he says, are being hatched against him. As for the presidential immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution, the contrasting legal opinion would not exclude the possibility of his trial till he holds the high office. PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan believes that the Article provides foolproof guarantee against any trial of a president during incumbency, but other experts like former Law Minister Khalid Anwar and former Supreme Court Bar Association President Hamid Khan disagree. Thus, the view expressed by the Prime Minister, after he met official legal experts on Friday, that the President had immunity against trial cannot be taken as the last word on the subject. And the directive he has issued to the concerned authorities to implement the judgment in letter and in spirit could ultimately cast its net around the President as well. Mr Gilani should know that the claims like the President enjoying the support of Parliament do not hold water in case of court proceedings. There is little doubt also that the political support Mr Zardari enjoyed earlier today stands eroded on account of various reasons, what with poor governance by the PPP-led set-up, the runaway inflation, charges of corruption, and now with the NRO judgment. One of PPPs top leaders, Central Executive Committee Member Nafees Siddiqui, sees no conspiracy against the President, nor does he view the court verdict as directed against any individual. He may not be the only PPP member to assess the situation differently. Mr Siddiqui is absolutely right in calling for the resignation of NRO-tainted Ministers. That would not only serve the interest of the Party, as he holds, but also of democracy. A new element of moral pressure, albeit indirect because it emerges from a court case in a foreign country, would also soon come to haunt the President and his supporters. A French judge has asked the British and Swiss authorities to furnish him as much information as possible on the allegations of embezzlement by Mr Zardari. That is in the context of a case about the death of 11 French engineers in an attack on a bus at Karachi in 2002. The attack was supposedly in revenge for the refusal by France to honour an alleged kickback deal in lieu of the purchase of submarines by Pakistan. Under the circumstances, the interest of the country would be best served with the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict without any reservations. That would, in fact, allow all accused, including the President, to have their names cleared, and in case they enjoyed popular support, occupy positions of authority.