PM Imran gives go-ahead to appoint Khalid Javed Khan as new AGP

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday decided to appoint Karachi-based lawyer Khalid Javed Khan as the new Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP).

The law ministry has been directed to issue a notification for his appointment today.

A day earlier, former AGP Anwar Mansoor Khan stepped down after landing in trouble over his contentious remarks about the apex court judges hearing the set of petitions challenging the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Khan, who tendered his resignation to President Arif Alvi, sealed his fate when he had implied that some members of the bench hearing the Justice Isa case were “privy” to the petition filed by the judge and was also found at a loss for words while defending the federal government in response to the court’s queries.

AGP ‘forced’ to quit over top court faux pas

The chief legal officer’s statement drew the ire of the top judiciary and he was directed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to either submit a written apology or provide evidence to substantiate his claim. Making matters worse for the AGP, the Pakistan Bar Council filed a contempt petition against him as well as the law minister.

In his resignation letter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, Anwar wrote that he was a lifetime member of the Karachi, Sindh and Supreme Court bar associations and wanted to “reaffirm faith in the highest principles of integrity and professional excellence that the Pakistan Bar Council has always stood for”.