ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: After appointing the new army chief, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also relieved himself on Wednesday of the charge of defence minister, one of the many portfolios he has been holding since his election in June this year.

Khawaja Asif, who is Minister for Water and Power, was given the additional charge of the ministry of defence. In another important development, Information Minister Senator Pervez Rasheed was given the additional charge of the ministry of law.

Interestingly, the notifications about appointments of the new army chief, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and defence and law ministers were released to the media through a one-page handout.

The timing of appointments of the new law and defence ministers has raised eyebrows.

According to a source in the PML-N, Khawaja Asif was given the charge of defence ministry in reaction to an observation made by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday during the hearing of a case relating to missing persons.

The chief justice had said that if 35 undeclared internees allegedly in the custody of military authorities were not produced before the court on Thursday (today), he would call the defence minister for personal explanation.

“To avoid any untoward development in the Supreme Court, the prime minister was advised to appoint Khawaja Asif as defence minister because he used to appear before the court in cases related to his water and power ministry on quite a regular basis,” the PML-N source said.

In the past the chief justice had summoned senior government officials on short notice, he added.

A PML-N lawmaker rejected a perception that the appointment had been made after the prime minister was done with the selection of new army chief. The decision had been taken to expedite the pace of working in the defence ministry, he explained.

Zahid Hamid was removed as law minister in June when the government decided to try former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution for imposing the Nov 3, 2007, emergency. Mr Hamid, then a PML-Q legislator, was law minister in the Musharraf government.

An official of the law ministry said that in the absence of a law minister, the ministry had to seek advice from the Prime Minister’s Office on all official business, which at times would consume a lot of time.

Law Secretary Barrister Zafarullah Khan, a former bureaucrat and Supreme Court lawyer, has been looking after the ministry. Therefore, the official said, Senator Rasheed would only be completing the missing link between the ministry and the PM Office. But some in the PML-N are not happy with the decision of handing over additional portfolios to Khawaja Asif and Senator Rasheed because they are already full-fledged ministers.

“We have nearly 200 members of the National Assembly, but the prime minister didn’t entrust any one of them with cabinet portfolios. This has put off many party lawmakers,” said a senior MNA of the PML-N.