PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has appointed senior Supreme Court lawyer Abdul Lateef Yousafzai the new provincial advocate general.

An official told Dawn that the provincial governor had approved the summary for the appointment of Mr Yousafzai under Article 140 of the Constitution.

This will be the second stint of Mr Yousafzai as the advocate general as he was earlier appointed to the post in Sept 2013 by the last PTI government.

He had stepped down on June 24 after holding the office for almost five years as the caretaker government was formed in the province to hold elections.

The interim government had made senior lawyer Abdul Samad Khan the AG, who resigned after the election victory of the PTI in the province. An official said the law department recently moved a summary for the appointment of Mr Yousafzai, who had practiced law in the Supreme Court for around 38 years.

He said the summary was later approved by the chief minister and referred to the governor for final approval.

Mr Yousafzai had successfully defended the provincial government during his previous stint in important constitutional and legal matters including the establishment of the KP Ehtesab Commission, enactment of the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, and the execution of the Bus Rapid Transit project.

He had earlier served on various important positions. He has pleaded civil, criminal, banking, commercial and labour laws cases at all courts, including the high courts and Supreme Court.

Mr Yousafzai had remained the deputy attorney general for Pakistan and deputy prosecutor general of National Accountability Bureau. From 1986 to 1991, he was a special prosecutor of the anti-narcotics cases and legal adviser to the customs and income tax departments. Mr Yousafzai also acted as counsel for different banks including IDBP, NBP, UBL, MCB, NIB Bank and Equity Participation Fund.

The federal government had also made him the member of Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, known as the ADR Committee for Customs, Federal Excise and Sales Tax. He also remained as special prosecutor of the Customs, Peshawar, from October 1986 to July 1991.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2018