Скачать или смотреть Senator Musadik Malik Best speech in a session on ‘Upholding the Rule of Law’

Senator Musadik Malik Best speech in a session on ‘Upholding the Rule of Law’
The first day of the conference drew hundreds of people and several eminent personalities travelled to the city to be part of a variety of panels. It was inaugurated after Asma Jahangir’s daughter and lawyer, Sulema Jahangir, made an official statement on behalf of their law firm, AGHS, about the expulsion of CPJ’s Steve Butler. “It is against the hospitality of Pakistan. Journalists must be free to practice their profession,” she said.

She recounted her mother’s journey from 1983 for demanding women’s rights and how she along with a group of lawyers organised themselves and wrote bail petitions for poor female prisoners.

Ahsan Bhoon, a Pakistan Bar Council member, spoke on international challenges to human rights, including refugees in Syria and Palestine. Bangladeshi Judge Khatun Sapnara spoke about access to justice and how academics, activists and experts must come together to redefine parameters of law to give practical support to children and women.

Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Syed Amjad Shah spoke about grave challenges facing the judiciary and serious questions raised from the accountability process. He remembered Asma Jahangir and her clear-minded presence.

Others who spoke at the inaugural session included EU Ambassador Androulla Kaminara,

Netherlands Human Rights Ambassador Dr Bahia Tahzib-Lie, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws and Justice Mamoon Rashid.

Supreme Court’s Justice Gulzar Ahmed reminisced about Asma Jahangir and said she was honoured with doctorates from several universities, adding that he believed her legacy would live on.

Senator Musadik Malik held the audience with his speech in a session on ‘Upholding the Rule of Law’. The session was about equity, access to and protection by law and began with Justice Qazi Faez Isa reading out a history of the power corridors in Pakistan with special focus on dictatorship. “Why did no movement ever stick despite several people taking the fall?” questioned Senator Malik. “It is because the only principle that binds our society is that of opportunism.”

Balochistan Bar Council President Manzoor Ahmed Shahwani said articles 8 to 28 were about fundamental rights, but were not freely given by the state and had to be fought for. “Those who say they got power through democratic means are lying,” he said. “Despite other institutions being weak, our political parties have deeply disappointed us.”

MNA Maleeka Bokhari of the PTI said the main reason for the party’s 100-day agenda was to see how many laws they could enact. And all their laws were for the people, she claimed, including women’s property rights, inheritance rights, Zainab Bill, gender-based violence courts etc. She said the PTI campaign was based on rule of law.

Advocate Salman Akram Raja also spoke about constitutional values, while Mr I.A. Rehman said there were too many obstacles to first overcome in order to establish enforcement of law.
In the second half of the pre-conference lecture series called “Crimes Against Women and the Criminal Justice System of Pakistan” the speakers were Justice Shehram Sarwar of the Lahore High Court, Former Justice and Prosecutor Syed Ehtisham Qadir Shah, Harris Azmat, Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan, Sara Malkani, Advocate and Legal Expert from Karachi. The Panel was moderated by Meenal Munshey from Beirut, Lebanon, with an expert degree in criminology.

Day one of the conference was largely attended by judges from Lahore and female lawyers from all over Pakistan. They included members of the Bars in Tharparkar, Chitral, Swat, Bajaur, Tanli, South Waziristan, Miran Shah, Peshawar, Swabi, Mardan, Mansehra, Dera Ismael Khan, Kohat, Jammu, Nowshera, Buner, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh, Multan, Vehari, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Sukher, Khairpur, Meerut and Khuzdar.

The day ended after a thorough interaction of female lawyers and other justice sector personnel. They resolved to improve and elevate the current position of women in the justice system and their ability to access justice.