ISLAMABAD: After the change of government and resignation of country’s top law officer Khalid Jawed Khan, the question being widely asked among legal circles is about who will be the next Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP).

As the race to fill the vacant position is on, potential candidates include advocates Ashtar Ausaf, Zahid Hamid and Salman Akram Raja. Mr Ausaf is emerging as a strong candidate and a front runner. There is also a strong possibility that Mr Hamid could be asked to serve as adviser to the prime minister on law.

Advocate Ausaf, who had earlier served as AGP in 2016 and also served as law adviser to ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, is considered very close to the Sharif family. The Lahore-based lawyer who recently returned from London told Dawn that he had not been approached by the government on the matter.

He had also served the PML-N government as Advocate General for Punjab but came to prominence for successfully representing the Sharif government in 1993 before the Supreme Court that had overturned the dissolution of parliament by late president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

Ashtar Ausaf, Zahid Hamid, Salman Akram Raja among potential candidates

Advocate Ausaf had also supported the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of independent judiciary and remained under detention in Lahore when Gen Musharraf proclaimed the state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

It is worth noting that Muneer A. Malik had also served as the AGP under the PML-N government in 2013.

Advocate Hamid also served as the law minister, the minister for climate change and the minister for science and technology during the rule of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif. He had to resign from the post of law minister in 2017 amid the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan protests against changes in the blasphemy law.

Salman Akram Raja is a senior Supreme Court advocate and a well-known corporate lawyer. He has appeared as amicus curiae in a number of cases before the apex court. He has been a lecturer at the Law Faculty of the Lahore University of Management Sciences and the Government College University, Lahore as well as a regular commentator on the private TV as well as a regular contributor of op-ed pieces in the print media.

The PML-N government is expected to soon nominate a person qualified for the coveted position to the president. The appointment to the AG office is made under Article 100 of the Constitution that allows the AGP to continue to serve in the capacity of the AG till the president decides otherwise.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2022