April 18, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1429

PESHAWAR, April 17: The NWFP government on Thursday appointed three additional and four deputy advocates general while the notification for filling the post of advocate general is still awaited.

A serving additional advocate general, Saeed Khan Shangla, resigned from his post before issuance of the notification so as to avoid termination of his service. The government also relieved two deputy advocates general, Tariq Baluch and Wajid Khan, who were serving at the D.I. Khan and Abbottabad circuit benches of the Peshawar High Court, respectively.

According to a notifications issued by the provincial law secretary Shahid Naseem Khan, the three newly-appointed additional advocates general are: Qaiser Rasheed Khan, Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Ikramullah Khan.

The four deputy advocates general are: Abbas Khan Sangeen for Abbottabad, Barrister Waqar and Alamgir Khan Durrani for Peshawar and Sanaullah Khan Gandapur for D.I. Khan.

Although, the provincial government has nominated former president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, Ziaur Rehman Khan, for the post of advocate general, but the NWFP governor has yet to give approval in that regard.

Till appointment of the advocate general, Qaiser Rasheed would perform his functions in the AG office. Interestingly, none of the seven appointed officers have the practice license of the Supreme Court.

All the newly-appointed officers in the advocate general office belong to Malgary Wakeelan, a lawyers’ forum affiliated with the Awami National Party.

The previous government of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in the province had also drawn criticism from different quarters especially lawyers for appointing mostly lawyers affiliated with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) on different posts in the AG office.

As the provincial law minister, Barrister Arshid Abdullah, belongs to ANP, therefore, the ministry preferred the members of Malgary Wakeelan for most of the posts and has ignored other lawyers.

The newly-appointed additional advocates general are known faces here. Qaiser Rasheed is a member of the NWFP Bar Council and has remained in the forefront of the lawyers’ movement in the province. He is an ardent supporter of continuing boycott of the superior courts till restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

Ishtiaq Ibrahim is a former deputy advocate general who has served as secretary general of PHCBA in the last term. He is believed to be well versed in criminal law. Similarly, Ikramullah Khan is a famous lawyer from the troubled Swat district.

Among the deputy advocates general, Abbas Khan Sangeen is the provincial vice president of Malgary Wakeelan and is known for his active role in the lawyers’ movement.

The other DAG, Alamgir Durrani, only managed to get his practicing license of the high court a day earlier. He belongs to Charssada, the stronghold of ANP and hometown of ANP’s central president Asfandyar Wali Khan and provincial law minister. Similarly, Barrister Waqar Ali is a former joint secretary of PHCBA.