Pakistan: Top law officials resign after Imran Khan deposed

Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan and Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood say they can no longer defend the government

By ANI

Published: Sun 10 Apr 2022, 11:22 AM

Last updated: Sun 10 Apr 2022, 11:32 AM

Following former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s loss in the no-confidence motion in National Assembly, Attorney General (AG) Khalid Jawed Khan and Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan announced their resignation.

“I have served as the Attorney General for Pakistan since February 2020. For this honour and privilege, I remain profoundly grateful to Prime Minister Imran Khan,” The Express Tribune quoted Khalid Jawed Khan as saying.

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“I have tried to serve the country to the best of my ability and conscience. I now deem it appropriate to tender my resignation,” Khan added.

While talking to a local media outlet, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Raja said that the Constitution has been violated and he could no longer defend the government.

He further stated that the no-confidence motion was dealt with in an unconstitutional manner which led to the constitutional crisis in-country, The Express Tribune reported.

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Earlier, Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri also tendered their resignations before the voting on no-confidence began.

Meanwhile, the vote finally took place in the National Assembly past midnight with 174 members voting in favour of the motion in the 342-member House. During the vote, members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were not present.

Now, the National Assembly will vote on April 11 (Monday) to elect a new Prime Minister. The Dawn newspaper said, citing the presiding officer of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq said that the nomination papers for the new prime minister may be submitted by 2 pm today (Sunday) and scrutiny would be done by 3pm. He summoned the session on Monday at 11 am and said the new premier would be elected then.