57 Advocate General Office officers removed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after governor’s rule

PESHAWAR (Atemad Desk): After the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial law department has removed all 57 officers of the Advocate General Office from their posts. They include 26 additional advocate generals, four advocates on record and 31 assistant advocate generals.

Additional Advocate General Shah Faisal Ilyas had already resigned, expressing reservations over governor’s rule and the emergency. On the prime minister’s advice, the president had approved emergency and governor’s rule in the province under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. The federal government made several changes to the administrative set-up immediately afterwards.

Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah was removed and Dr Muhammad Fakhar Alam Irfan, a Grade 22 officer, was appointed the new chief secretary. Transfers were made in the bureaucracy and police. An order was also issued under Article 245 for the deployment of the army to assist the civil administration and to protect citizens and government installations.

According to Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, an 11-member advisory council has been formed to assist Governor Faisal Karim Kundi. A separate secretariat under the governor and the chief secretary has been set up for 12 sensitive districts. Muhammad Yahya Akhunzada has been appointed additional chief secretary for these districts and administrator for the districts under emergency. The order takes effect immediately.

The additional advocate generals removed include Noman-ul-Haq Kakakhel, Aqeel Hussain, Amir Zeb, Ayub Zaman, Abdur Rauf Afridi, Naseeruddin Shah and Shah Faisal Ilyas. The advocates on record include Zahid Yousuf Qureshi, M Ajmal Khan, Fareedullah Kundi and Malik Akhtar Hussain Awan. The assistant advocate generals include Taskeenuddin Khattak, Humaira Gul, Waqar Orakzai and Imran Khan, among other officers.