Following Barrister Shehzad Ata Elahi’s resignation as Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with legal professionals to discuss their plan of action for the postponed elections in Punjab when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) brings the case before the Supreme Court.
Although his departure was not publicly announced, a person with knowledge of the situation said Elahi, the 37th AGP, had quit the coveted position.
Azam Nazeer Tarar, the federal law minister, and the prime minister’s special aides Attaullah Tarar and Malik Ahmad Khan participated in the meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Sharif and held at Model Town. Shehzad Ata Elahi, however, was conspicuously absent.
Barrister Elahi was unable to be reached despite several attempts to do so in order to confirm or reject allegations of his resignation.
The government did not have a comfortable correlation with the AGP and perceived him as someone who had been pushed upon them, which was the cause of his abrupt resignation.
According to reports, the highest position became the most uncomfortable seat after the ECP’s March 22 declaration that the Punjab Assembly elections would be delayed since Elahi, the AGP, had to defend the executive’s policies before the judiciary.
According to a PML-N source reported in the media, “the PM’s huddle fully supported the ECP’s decision and resolved to hold the general elections of all assemblies simultaneously.”
The government’s plan to contest the ECP’s verdict and its inability to hold elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the existing conditions were discussed during the meeting.
The government’s greatest defense is that holding general elections separately may be problematic for everyone involved and trigger another crisis. The insider said that the Supreme Court may be asked to provide a solution while considering the interests of all parties.
The ECP issued an illegal decision under the direction of the government and the powers that be, and the PTI has already indicated that it will appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.
