Senior Pakistani Lawyers Traveling On U.S. Speaking Tour

New York, NY — Two leading Pakistani lawyers are traveling on a speaking tour of the United States with the Pakistan Justice Coalition in a trip organized by the LUMS Rule of Law Project.

The lawyers will be speaking at a number of law schools, including NYU, Columbia and Rutgers, and will be the guests of honor at the mid-Atlantic conference of the National Lawyers Guild in Philadelphia. Following the conference, they will travel to Washington D.C. to address policy makers regarding the impacts of current U.S. policy in Pakistan.

“We are pleased to be able to host our inspirational Pakistani colleagues and to honor the achievements of lawyers’ movement in promoting justice and the rule of law,” stated Pakistani Justice Coalition co-chair Ryan Hancock, who recently returned from a 10-day fact-finding visit to Pakistan.

The lawyers have been at the forefront of the lawyers’ movement that arose following the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March 2007. Following the November 3, 2007 coup, in which then-General Pervez Musharraf deposed more than half of the sitting appellate judges in Pakistan, lawyers again took to the streets and hundreds were imprisoned. Biographies of the lawyers are included below.

“This speaking tour will provide an opportunity for lawyers, law students, judges and policy makers in the United States to witness the passion of the Pakistani lawyers’ movement,” stated Rule of Law Project Director Devin Theriot-Orr.