In November 2017, the Ministry of Interior suspended the licences for all automatic firearms across Pakistan as part of Abbasi's policy to make Pakistan free of automatic weapons. On 28 November 2017, Abbasi and Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal were criticised by the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan Raza Rabbani for striking a deal with the Tehreek-e-Labaik protestors and for not taking the Senate in confidence with regards to the crackdown against them that led to resignation of Minister for Law and Justice, Zahid Hamid. On 5 December 2017, Abbasi gave his Special Assistant on Law Zafarullah Khan the responsibility to oversee the affairs of Law Ministry until the appointment of a Federal Minister for Law. On 9 January 2018, Abbasi appointed Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir as Federal Minister for Law.