By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: A high-powered delegation of Indian jurists is to visit Pakistan this week, as part of a remarkable initiative of the legal fraternities of India and Pakistan to bridge the gap between the legal communities of the two nations and to create a common platform to improve legal education and human rights.
For the first time, all the national law schools of India have come together to work with their Pakistani counterparts via “The Jurists”, the collective corpus of the law schools. The maiden event to mark the official beginning of this unique partnership is scheduled from December 22-27 at Islamabad and Lahore at a convention titled “War for Socio-Legal Peace: The twin Crisis between India and Pakistan”.
A 10-member delegation from India, including the Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramanium will represent the Bar Council and the National Law Schools at this event, which the Aman ki Asha peace initiative of the Jang Group and The Times of India Group is pleased to support.
Speaking on behalf of Aman ki Asha, Shahrukh Hasan, Group Managing Director Jang Group, said: “These are just the sort of initiatives that will help clear misperceptions between our two countries.
“Conferences such as these are also indicative of the people’s desire for peace and harmony and will broaden the base for this constituency.”
“This event marks the beginning of a new era of mutual cooperation and collective efforts between the legal fraternities of India and Pakistan where they will jointly address the socio-legal problems of the people of both nations,” said Siddharth Nayak, Executive Manager, The Jurists.
“The objective is to provide a platform for legal cultural exchange and knowledge cooperation.”At the conference, delegates will deliberate on policy making and sign MoUs between the legal entities of India and Pakistan for opening up of the portals for legal education and to unite the talent and intellect of both nations to obtain outstanding results in the field of law and human rights.
“The highlight of the visit will be a meeting between the Indian delegation and the heads and students of leading law schools of Pakistan on December 24 to concretise the plans of better cooperation between the legal communities on both sides. They will sign MoUs on various topics related legal ties,” said Advocate Raghav Awasthi, a founder of The Jurists and the initiative’s national coordinator for India.
The Advisory Panel of The Jurists includes Gopal Subramanium (Solicitor General, India, Chairperson, Bar Council of India), Shanti Bhushan (Former Union Law Minister, India), Asma Jahangir (President, Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Council), KTS Tulsi (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India), Ammara Farooq Malik (CEO, Founder, Seeds of Education Policy and Legal Awareness Association (SEPLAA), Mumtaz Mustafa (Vice-Chairman, Punjab Bar Council, Pakistan) and Dr Colin Gonsalves (Founder Director, Human Rights and Law Network). Their details are available at the website http://www.thejurists.com/advisory-board.
The vice chancellors of India’s premium law colleges constitute the Academic Council that will look into the legal academic projects of The Jurists http://www.thejurists.com/academic-council.
The event is the combined result and effort of eight organisations: The Jurists, Human Rights and Law Network (HRLN), SEPLAA, JAAG welfare Movement, South Asia Partnership, Action-Aid, Bar and Bench and Lex Witness.
NOTE: The visit of the Indian delegation to Pakistan has been delayed due to visa issues, which are expected to be sorted out soon. Watch this space.
