LAHORE: Additional Advocate General (AAG) Asma Hamid has been appointed as first-ever woman advocate general of Punjab (AGP) since Shakilur Rehman Khan tendered his resignation as the principal law officer the other day owing to expiry of the provincial government’s constitutional term on May 31.

Sources in the advocate general office confirmed that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif approved a summary to this effect on Monday evening. Shakilur Rehman Khan, son of retired Justice Khalilur Rehman Khan and appointed as AGP on March 7, 2016, served for two years.

Sources said it would be up to the forthcoming caretaker set-up in the province whether to sustain the appointment of Ms Hamid or appoint a new incumbent during the interim government as per the convention.

Ms Hamid is a daughter of former Punjab governor Shahid Hamid and niece of former federal law minister Zahid Hamid. She was appointed as assistant advocate general in January 2014 and later elevated to AAG on Feb 18, 2015.

In 2016, she was briefly given look-after charge of the principal law officer after the then AGP Naveed Rasool Mirza had resigned due to health issues.

Ms Hamid holds an LLB degree from University of Punjab and an LLM in Constitutional Law from Harvard Law School, US. Her law career includes litigation on behalf of top law firms of Pakistan as well as individual engagement for drafting legislation for the government of Sindh’s heritage protection laws. She is also well-versed in contractual and commercial law.

Her thesis at Harvard focused on the process of judicial appointments in Pakistan. As a law officer, Ms Hamid advises the Punjab government on a variety of issues ranging from revenue, criminal, civil to constitutional matters. She has conducted civil, constitutional and criminal courts in her career as a law officer since her appointment in January 2014.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2018