ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Law and Justice has appointed a member of the local PML-N Lawyers’ Forum to the post of additional attorney general, the second senior-most law officer of the federal government.

There are currently six additional attorneys general of the federal government working in the Supreme Court and the five high courts against seven sanctioned posts. These include Mohammad Waqar Rana, Afnan Karim Kundi and Aamir Rehman (Islamabad), Manzoor Khalil (Peshawar), Suleman Talibuddin (Karachi), while the latest appointment was that of Siddiq Awan (Rawalpindi).

The seat of an additional attorney general in Lahore became vacant after Naseer Bhutta was appointed the Punjab information commissioner.

Mr Awan recently came into the limelight for disrupting the Oct 13 proceedings of an accountability court after scuffling with a police official deputed outside the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC), when Judge Mohammad Bashir was scheduled to indict former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and her husband retired Capt Mohammad Safdar.

Siddiq Awan was leading the lawyers’ contingent who disrupted NAB court proceedings ahead of Sharifs’ indictment

Kinza Sadaat, Mr Awan’s wife, has been an assistant attorney general in the Lahore High Court for the last few years. When Mr Awan disrupted the accountability court’s proceedings, Ms Sadaat was also manhandled by police who were trying to prevent the lawyers from entering the FJC premises.

Mr Awan was leading the contingent of PML-N lawyers who wished to witness the indictment of the Sharifs, and the situation degenerated into a brawl when they attempted to cross the police picket by force and were baton-charged in response.

Mr Awan filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court after the incident, seeking contempt of court proceedings against senior police officers for restraining the lawyers from entering the courtroom. He later withdrew the petition after an out-of-court settlement.

Senior lawyers close to Mr Awan told Dawn he had been vying for a senior post in the attorney general’s office or the law ministry.

Former law minister Zahid Hamid had left his case pending for several months, sources said, but charge of the ministry has now been handed to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Barrister Zafarullah Khan after Mr Hamid’s resignation, who Mr Awan visited practically every day.

After obtaining approval from the competent authority, Mr Khan notified the appointment of Mr Awan as additional attorney general.

The appointment has surprised some senior law officers. A former additional attorney general told Dawn that there should be a benchmark for making such appointments, as under the existing rules a lawyer with 15 years of practice in the high court is eligible for the post.

“I think the government has rewarded him for the service he rendered in the accountability court,” he remarked.

Mr Khan did not comment when approached, but Siddiq Awan told Dawn he was appointed on merit and his appointment had no connection to the Oct 13 incident.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2017