The Punjab government on Monday dismissed Additional Advocate General Khawar Ikram Bhatti for reportedly slapping a police officer outside an accountability court in Islamabad, DawnNews reported.

A notification issued by Punjab Law Secretary Dr Syed Abul Hassan Najmi said that "the competent authority... [has] dispensed with the services of [Bhatti] with immediate effect".

Earlier, Justice Ebadur Rehman Lodhi refused to let Bhatti appear before the Lahore High Court, saying that "it did not suit state lawyers to assault a police officer".

Lodhi also accused Bhatti of being politically motivated and said that a state lawyer should serve the state instead of a political party.

On Saturday, a group of lawyers associated with the PML-N had forcibly tried to enter an accountability court, where former premier's daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Muhammad Safdar had appeared for the hearing of a corruption case against them.

On being stopped by the police officers posted outside the court, the lawyers assaulted the official.

Later that day, a case against the group of lawyers was registered after Inspector Shakeel Ahmed of the Diplomatic Protection Department filed a complaint regarding the incident.