Barrister Khalid Jawed Khan was on Thursday appointed as the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP).
Acting President Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani took the decision after accepting the resignation of Ashtar Ausaf Ali, who voluntarily relinquished the post on Wednesday for ‘transparent and unbiased elections’.
Barrister Khalid Jawed Khan’s professional career spans over two decades. He was enrolled as a high court advocate in 1991 and became an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2004.
He has served as a legal adviser to the Attorney General for Pakistan and, in this capacity, advised PPP leader Benazir Bhutto during her second tenure (1993-1996) as the country’s prime minister.
Barrister Khan was also appointed as the Advocate General of Sindh on June 25, 2013. He, however, resigned from the post on January 11, 2014, citing ‘personal reasons’. His father, Prof N. D Khan, is a seasoned politician who has been associated with the Pakistan Peoples Party for a long time.
The 54-year-old Karachi-based lawyer specialises in vast areas of law, including constitutional law, income tax, sales tax, customs, land matters, banking law and service laws.
He obtained his LLB degree from University of London and LLM from Harvard University. His bachelors degree in civil law is from Oxford University. Barrister Khan was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn.
Barrister Khan had struggled against the imposition of the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) by former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. In his resignation, Ashtar Ausaf Ali had stated, “I believe that in the wake of imminent general elections, it would only be correct for me to tender my resignation from constitutional office, lest it be perceived by any party that my continued presence will impede the process of free and fair elections. The democratic transition, and its preservation, is a cornerstone of our constitution and our democracy.”
Published in Daily Times, June 22nd 2018.