End of row: Nawaz accepts resignation of law secretary

Barrister Zafarullah appointed special assistant on parliamentary affairs

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has accepted the resignation of Law Secretary Zafarullah Khan and appointed him as a special assistant on parliamentary affairs, sources in the law ministry revealed to The Express Tribune.

There was a tussle between the law secretary and the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt, which ended with this resignation, sources said.



Sources said that a cold war was going on between AGP and law secretary over the appointment of law officers as well as others matters; therefore, the secretary had tendered his resignation on September 20.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Zafarullah Khan confirmed that his resignation as law secretary has been accepted and now the federal government has given him an apolitical task to complete its (government) reform agenda and expedite the legislation process. “Now I will sit in the cabinet and attend the parliament’s sessions,” he added.

Long drawn out battle

The key difference between Khan and Butt cropped up over the appointment of certain law officers by the attorney general, allegedly without following the procedure set by the government. The law secretary had expressed reservations over appointment as law officers of people who have been associated with the legal team of General Musharraf in the high treason case.

Similarly, Barrister Zafarullah Khan was unprepared to accept any amendment in the Rules of Business to get the AGP Office detached from the law ministry. He insists that the AG officially has been acting as an attached department of the law ministry since long.

The PM office was inclined to accept the attorney general’s request that his office should be detached from the law ministry and made an independent entity. This requires a change in the Rules of Business.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2014.