PESHAWAR, March 31: The NWFP government on Wednesday appointed Imtiaz Ali and Akhter Naveed as additional and deputy advocates general. The newly-appointed law officers were earlier functioning on the same posts , but on March 6 the government had relieved them and six other officers of their duties. Those eight law officers all worked as additional and deputy advocates general.

The NWFP government replaced those eight officers with 10 new additional and deputy advocates general, nine of whom are believed to be affiliated with the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (F) party and the remaining one with the Jamaat-i-Islami party.

It is learnt that two of the said ten appointed officers did not possess licences from the High Court due to which they were asked to relinquish their posts. Those two officers included Najam Khan and Fareedullah Shaal, who were respectively appointed as additional and deputy advocates general.

An official in the advocate general's office informed that two separate notifications were issued by the Secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Amir Gulab Khan through which Mr Ali and Mr Naveed have been appointed on the two vacant posts.

The official claimed that the majority of the law officers appointed by the present government were inexperienced and ever since their appointments the NWFP Advocate General Barrister Jehanzeb Raheem had to face various complications.

He had even communicated to the law secretary that it would be difficult for his office to defend the government properly before the Supreme Court and the High Court in the present circumstances, the official claimed.

It is believed that the re-appointment of Mr Ali and Mr Naveed was due to the embarrassment faced by the government with the previous appointments.