PESHAWAR, Sept 25: Some senior lawyers, whose names are being considered for the post of the prosecutor-general, accountability, have expressed their inability to accept the offer, an official of the National Accountability Bureau said.
It was learnt that of the lawyers, whose consent was being sought for the appointment, only NWFP’s Advocate-General Barrister Jehanzeb Raheem expressed his willingness in this regard, saying he could accept the offer if the NWFP governor relieved him from his present post.
Sources in the NAB said that names of two former attorney- generals, Qazi Muhammad Jamil and M. Sardar Khan, and the deputy prosecutor-general of NAB, Mian Fasihul Mulk, were being considered along with Mr Raheem but they were unwilling to accept the offer because of various reasons.
Mr Jamil, a former judge of the Peshawar High Court, had served as the attorney-general during the government of Benazir Bhutto. Sources said that while Mr Jamil was not a PPP member, but he declined the offer because of his close association with Benazir Bhutto.
Referring to Mr Fasihul Mulk, sources said that he did not want to settle in Islamabad. Similarly, M. Sardar Khan has also put forward certain reasons for non-acceptance of the offer.
The lawyers’ community regarded highly of Barrister Jehanzeb Raheem as he represented the provincial government successfully in various important cases. That was also being cited as one of the reasons as to why the NWFP government did not replace him despite demands made by lawyers affiliated with the Jamaat-i- Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F.
The post had fallen vacant after the then incumbent Naveed Rasool Mirza retired on medical grounds a few months ago.
