Barrister Khalid Javed to replace Anwar Mansoor as AGP

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to appoint Barrister Khalid Javed Khan the new Attorney General for Pakistan after Anwar Mansoor Khan resigned earlier on Thursday, confirmed Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. 

The Pakistan Bar Council had demanded his resignation over some comments he made regarding Supreme Court judges, for which he had been reprimanded by the court as well.

Read more: Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan resigns from office after run-in with Supreme Court

The Supreme Court had on Wednesday directed Khan to produce evidence supporting his comments or submit a written apology about his controversial statement.

The statement itself had been expunged from the court record.

"A certain statement was made by the attorney general about the bench and it would be appreciative that the material on the basis that he has made statement be placed before the bench,” the court had noted in its order on the matter.

“In case, no material was placed before this bench, we expect a written apology from the attorney general for having touched the matter,” the court further noted in its order.

“It [the statement] is not against one, but every member of the bench,” it added. 

Barrister Khalid Javed: A profile

Javed 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 attorney general for Pakistan. 

The Karachi-based law specialises 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 prominent PPP leader. 

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 and wrote many articles against it.