ISLAMABAD: After considerable delay, a notification for the appointment of Anwar Mansoor Khan as Attorney General of Pakis­tan was issued on Thursday.

A senior counsel from Karachi who defended the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf before the Supreme Court in the Imran Khan disqualification case, Mr Khan was on Aug 18 tipped to be app­ointed as the top law officer of the federal government.

Khalid Jawed, who held the coveted post at the time, had been informed that the government would like to retain him in the office because of his hard work as well as clear understanding of the law, which had impressed even the judges of the Supreme Court.

However, when a controversy erupted and rumours started making the rounds that Mr Khan would be appointed as the attorney general, Khalid Jawed expressed his unwillingness to continue serving in the post and left it vacant.

Earlier on Thursday, Law Minister Farogh Naseem told reporters that the notification about Mr Khan’s appointment would be issued in a day or two because Prime Minister Imran Khan had already signed a summary on the matter and President Mamnoon Hussain was expected to approve it soon.

This is the second time that Anwar Mansoor Khan has become the attorney general. He earlier served in the position during the tenure of the Pakistan Peoples Party government. He resigned from the post on April 2, 2010 after reportedly developing differences with the then law minister, Babar Awan.

“Due to non-cooperation and noncooperative attitude of the law minister and the Ministry of Law and Justice since I joined the office and especially since the present crisis, it is not possible for me to continue in that office,” his one-page resignation letter addressed to the president had stated.

Every political party which forms a government at the Centre appoints an eminent lawyer of its choice as attorney general in whom it has complete confidence.

The office of the attorney general is considered to be an important one because individuals with deep understanding of the law and having considerable experience at the bar, and who are qualified enough to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court, are chosen to represent the federal government before the superior judiciary as well as act as a bridge between the two pillars of the state.

Mr Khan has defended former president Gen Pervez Musharraf before a special court in the case of high treason. He was commissioned as an officer in the Pakistan Army in 1971 and fought the 1971 war, but resigned in 1973. He became a prisoner of war in 1971.

He was appointed judge of the Sindh High Court in October 2000, but resigned from the position on Oct 3, 2001, to rejoin law practice.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2018