LAHORE - Prosecutor-General Punjab Justice (retd) Mushtaq Ahmed Khan resigned on Monday after the Punjab government had asked him to do so since 'his services were no more required', while his subordinate coterie will be also sent home packing in the near future. According to Provincial Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan, the Punjab government was dissatisfied with his performance. "The government has asked him to resign, as his services were no more required because his performance was not up to the mark," he succinctly replied, while offering no further comment on whether the removal was because of the reason that Justice (retd) Mushtaq was appointed by the previous political regime of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Justice (retd) Mushtaq was not available for comments. Another well-placed source said it is believed that Justice (retd) Mushtaq was chosen by the previous government, and he was not appointed on merit, and at that time, the then Opposition and the present government protested against the appointment. "His appointment as Prosecutor-General Punjab was made prior to the outlining his perks and privileges, which were far more than the Advocate General Punjab. Secondly, it was an effort at creating a shadow department of the already existent set-up, as it was done for other departments as well, because of the foreign funding," added the source, while pointing out that the Asian Development Bank had funded the Access to Justice Programme due to which the Public Prosecution Department was also created. "Under this head, a large number of additional, assistant and deputy prosecution-generals were recruited, mostly on political grounds, while giving them steep pays.  This further added to the burden on the ever-shrinking public exchequer. Now the present government has decided to terminate all of them," confided the source. The above-mentioned fact was confirmed by Rana Sana, as he mentioned that all illegal appointees would be terminated. According to a source, it is a possibility that each and every case would be scrutinised prior to taking any decision. "However, two departments and heads with the same kinds of functions will not be allowed to work side-by-side and simultaneously. Moreover, as most of the appointments were political ones, and therefore these cannot be deliverers, which is considered to be a tangible enough proof for terminating them," averred the source.