ISLAMABAD: A day after assuming charge of his office on Monday, Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan sought complete autonomy of his office from the control of the law ministry and an explanation over the move to appoint law officers without his consent.

In a letter to the law minister, which was also issued to the media, the AG referred to his meeting with the law minister and requested him to issue an appropriate formal clarification at the earliest since a news report regarding appointment of law officers had created confusion between the law division and the AG office.

He was referring to a Dawn report that the government was trying to appoint a number of law officers without the AG’s consent and that a number of lawyers from different cities had been approached by the law division to immediately submit their CVs so that suitable among them be appointed to fill the vacancies.

Writes to PM, law minister; wants clarification over issue of appointments without his consent

“You would recall that during our meeting earlier today you had clarified that no such action is in the offing and therefore no law officers are being terminated or appointed,” the letter said. “We had agreed further that we will be working within the prescribed constitutional limits of our respective offices and that no appointments, transfers or other matters relating to the law officers would be taken by the law ministry without prior consent of the AG.

“Looking forward to a good working relationship between the law and justice division and the office of attorney general for Pakistan within our respective domain,” the letter concluded.

A copy of the letter has also been dispatched to Secretary to the Prime Minister Mohammad Azam Khan.

Meanwhile, a source privy to the development confided to Dawn that summaries for the appointment of seven law officers were almost ready. The source said that the summary for another set of 15 law officers was also in the process. However, the source added, following the letter from the AG office, the process was stopped.

The AG wrote another letter to the prime minister suggesting that the office of the AG be made independent and autonomous of the administrative control of the law ministry so that the affairs of the top legal office were carried out without getting approval from the law ministry, the source said.

The AG also stated that the AG office would proceed with the international litigation and commercial disputes at different international forum independently without any interference of the law ministry.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem expressed regret over his choice of words against former AG Anwar Mansoor Khan and said the former AG was like his elder brother.

While distancing himself from the statement made by the then AG before the full court of the Supreme Court in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case, the law minister had said the AG had been asked to relinquish his office and that he was not speaking the truth when he claimed that the federal government had been aware of what statement was going to be made.

Talking to the media, the minister said he had withdrawn the words he made against Mr Mansoor. He also said he had no reservation over the appointment of Khalid Jawed Khan as the new AG.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2020