Islamabad, (TLTP): Barrister Khalid Javed Khan has been appointed as new Attorney General for Pakistan, an official notification stated on Saturday.
Barrister Khan has replaced Anwar Mansoor Khan who resigned from the post on Thursday (February 20, 2020).
“In exercise of powers conferred under Article 100(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, the President is pleased to appoint Mr. Khalid Jawed Khan as Attorney General for Pakistan with the rank and status of federal minister with immediate effect,” said the official notification.
According to PTI’s official Twitter account, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed the law ministry to move a summary for the appointment of Khalid Javed Khan as new attorney general of the country.
Earlier on Thursday last, Anwar Mansoor Khan tendering resignation claimed that he is stepping down to respect the demand of Pakistan Bar Council – the apex regulatory body of the lawyers.
However, the government side claimed that it was the outcome of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s displeasure over the attorney general’s contemptuous remarks about superior judiciary during adjudication of the presidential reference against one of the sitting judges of the top court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
In his resignation to President Arif Alvi, Capt. (retired) Anwar Mansoor Khan said the Pakistan Bar Council has asked for his resignation. “Being a life member of Karachi Bar Association, Sindh Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association, and having previously served as the Advocate-General Sindh, the Attorney-General for Pakistan and a judge of the High Court of Sindh, I stand with my brothers and colleagues at the Bar and I wish to reaffirm my faith in the highest principles of integrity and professional excellence that the Pakistan Bar Council has always stood for,” the letter read.
Khan added, “I hereby resign from the position of the Attorney-General for Pakistan and request you to accept it with immediate effect. In the last year and a half, I worked to the best of my ability to serve this solemn office with honesty of purpose, and commitment to upholding the constitution.”
However, Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar claimed that Khan was asked to resign after his controversial statement in the Supreme Court. The statements from the ministers came after law secretary submitted a response in the top court on behalf of the President, the Prime Minister, law minister and special assistant to the PM on accountability regarding the controversial statement from the attorney general.
Barrister Khalid Javed Khan had been enrolled as an advocate of the high court in 1991. In 2004, he became an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He used to advise former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto when she was in office during 1993-1996 as a legal adviser to the then attorney general for Pakistan.
He specializes in many branches of law such as constitutional law, income tax, sales tax, customs, land matters, banking law and service laws. He is the son of N.D. Khan, a senior politician who had also served as the law minister during the second government of Pakistan Peoples Party.
Javed secured his LLB degree from London University, BCL (bachelor of civil law) degree from Oxford University, LLM from Harvard University and completed his bar-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn.
He is known for his opposition to General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and wrote many articles against it.
Jawed is a senior advocate who has appeared before the Supreme Court in a number of cases and also served as Advocate General for Sindh in 2013 as well as a member of the Privatization Commission of Pakistan from 1995 to 1996.
