Meeran Karim

Meeran Karim is a political activist and organizer from Lahore, Pakistan, campaigning for a number of democratic causes, including the restoration of the deposed Pakistani judges in 2007, when she rallied with the masses in the streets and worked with a local newspaper covering the historic Lawyers’ Movement that swept Pakistan. In order to encourage youth activism, she established a youth parliament at her school which provides a platform for young people to voice their opinions. In order to promote women’s empowerment, she interned at AGHS legal aid cell in Pakistan, which provides legal aid to female victims of violence. She worked under her mentor, the prominent human rights’ lawyer, Asma Jehangir.

Ms. Karim represented Pakistan and young people from all over the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year, and she has taken part in other conferences, including the International Youth Leadership Conference (Prague, Czech Republic), the Young Leaders Conference (Lahore), and an Initiative for Peace (India).

When Ms. Karim was nine, a military dictator overthrew the democratically elected government in Pakistan, and as a result, she attended her first protest at a relatively young age. Since then, she has always been concerned with the challenges facing Pakistan. Later this year, she will be starting her undergraduate studies at Mount Holyoke College (US), where she hopes to study international relations and political science. After completing her education, Ms. Karim intends to return home to work for Pakistan.

Shahbaz Sharif

Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, also known as Shahbaz Sharif is a well known Pakistani politician and currently President of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N). He is the brother of Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is the incumbent Chief Minister of Pakistan's most populous province Punjab since 2008. Previously, he held this position from 1997 to 1999, when his government was overturned along with all other provincial and federal governments by dictator Pervaiz Musharraf then army chief of Pakistan, in a pre-planned coup.

History and Background

He was considered a very strict administrator and good chief minister of Punjab but he also get criticism that he was a powerful chief minister of Punjab because his brother was Prime Minister of Pakistan.

He has credit of renewing Lahore and lot of development work in Punjab. Despite all controversies, Shahbaz Sharif is remembered as the best cheif minister any province in Pakistan ever had.

Family

Mian Shahbaz Sharif is the second son of a Kashmiri, named Mian Muhammad Sharif. Shahbaz Sharif's first marriage was with his cousin Nusrat Shahbaz in 1973, with the approval of his father, the late Mian Muhammad Sharif. They have two sons, Hamza and Salman and three daughters. Hamza Shahbaz is in politics and is a member of the National Assembly. Salman Shahbaz, educated at Oxford, concentrates mainly on business. Shahbaz Sharif's second marriage was with Aaliya Honey in 1993-94. They have one daughter, Khadija. He divorced her while in exile in Saudi Arabia. It is claimed that Shahbaz Sharif has a third marriage with Tehmina Durrani but he never publicly admitted it. This is the third marriage for both of them.

First term Chief Minister of Punjab

He was considered a strict and demanding administrator as the chief minister of Punjab. He received some criticism because he took charge of the office when his brother was the Prime Minister of Pakistan [citation needed] He was ousted along with his brother in the 1999 military coup, which brought Pervez Musharraf to power. He had been a famous chief minster due to his strict administration, workaholic nature and public welfare projects all over the Punjab province. He is known as Khadama Punjab these days.

Exile

Shahbaz Sharif lived in exile in London with his brother, the exiled former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif after coming from Saudi Arabia. He once tried coming back to Pakistan following a High Court decision that he was free to come back whenever he wanted. On May 11, 2004 his plane landed at Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore but he was arrested and again deported to Saudi Arabia within a few hours.

President of Pakistan Muslim League (N)

Mian Shahbaz Sharif was elected President of PML (N) on 3 August 2002 while in exile in Saudi Arabia. He was re-elected President of PML(N) for a second term on 2 August 2006.

Popular among educated, civil & armed services and the middle-class, he is thought of as a strong future candidate to become Prime Minister, of Pakistan.

Return to Pakistan

In August 2007, Supreme Court of Pakistan gave its verdict which allowed Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to return back to Pakistan.

On September 7, 2007, judge Shabbir Hussain Chatha ordered police to arrest Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Nawaz Sharif and produce him before the court, after the hearing in Lahore. The court ruled that "Shahbaz Sharif should be arrested (at) whichever airport he lands at." Nawaz Sharif too faces detention on the pair's planned return from exile to Pakistan on September 10, 2007, to challenge President Pervez Musharraf's 8-year military rule.

His brother Mian Shahbaz Sharif changed return plans at the last minute.

Sharif was not allowed to participate in the 2008 elections because of allegations against him. His son Hamza Sharif was supposed to run from a NA seat in Lahore but due to the death of a candidate the elections were postponed.

Second term as Chief Minister

On 8 June 2008, Shahbaz Sharif was elected as Chief Minister of Punjab, receiving 265 votes from the members of the 371-seat provincial assembly. He was the only candidate, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q boycotted the vote. Speaking after his election, he called on Musharraf to resign. He won a vote of confidence on 9 June, receiving 266 votes.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif after becoming Chief Minister of Punjab was welcomed by the public and media who were keen to see how he pursues his unfinished agenda of public welfare and reforms in education sector.

His second term as Chief Minister lasted until 25 February 2009, when a three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Justice Moosa K. Leghari, declared him ineligible to contest elections, took away his seat in the Punjab Assembly, and thereby removed him from office. On 31 March 2009, a five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court granted stay order on an earlier decision of the apex court, in which Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were disqualified from holding public office. As a result, Shahbaz Sharif returned to office as Chief Minister. He is fighting against corruption in the society in general and government functionaries in particular. He seems to have vision; a mega plan to transform Lahore into a true High-Tech City in Pakistan as well as an important high tech center in the entire world.

Sardar Muhammad Chaudhry Former IGP Punjab

Sardar Muhammad Chaudhry (born. 1937, died 2004) practiced law briefly and then joined the Police Service of Pakistan in 1963. He served in the field but the major portion of his career was spent in the Intelligence, FIA and Narcotics Control Board, where he had a unique opportunity to observe and influence The Power Game that our rulers are wont to play.

His last position, before retiring in March 1997, was as Inspector General of Police Punjab, the largest and the most important province of Pakistan. Because of his rich experience and deep insight he emerged as a guide, a wise counsel of the police and government. He is held in high esteem by police force as well as the general public for his high integrity, fairplay and humane approach.

Salima Hashmi

Salima Hashmi is one of the most well-known artists of Pakistan. Besides being an accomplished painter, she taught at Pakistan's prestigious National College of Arts (NCA) for about thirty years and served as the Principle of NCA for four years. In 1999, Salima Hashmi received Pakistan's Pride of Performance award. Today she is the Dean of School of Visual Arts at the newly established Beaconhouse National University in Lahore.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan (born on September 27, 1945, Murree, Islamabad Pakistan) is a Barrister-at-Law by profession and a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is also a writer, human rights activist, politician, former Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Interior, Narcotics Control (1988-1990) and Education. Elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1994, he eventually succeeded as the leader of the House and the leader of the Opposition between the years 1996 and 1999. Currently he is president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

In the wake of 9 March events in Pakistan, barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has become a sign of resistance to anti-democratic moves. His eloquent speeches and his command over Pakistani law make him one of the most recognizable politicians of today. Aitzaz Ahsan is also an active member of Pakistan Peoples Party.

Aitzaz Ahsan comes from a family background steeped in politics. He received his early education from Aitchison College and the Government College, Lahore. Later he studied law at Cambridge University, UK and was called to the bar at Grays’ Inn in 1967. Aitzaz

Upon his return from Cambridge, Aitzaz Ahsan appeared for and stood first in Pakistan's prestigious Central Superior Services (CSS) examination. Objecting to the rule of General Ayub Khan, however, he refused to join government service during the time of military rule. This act of youthful defiance made him the first, and perhaps only, individual to top the CSS exam yet decline government service.

Aitzaz Ahsan started his political career in the 1970s. When Chaudhry Anwar Samma, a PPP MPA from Gujrat, was murdered in March 1975, Aitzaz Ahsan was elected, un-opposed to the Punjab Assembly and inducted in the provincial cabinet. He was given the portfolio of information, planning and development.

During the PNA demonstrations against the alleged rigging of elections by the PPP government in 1977, the police opened fire on a lawyers rally in Lahore. Aitzaz, who was a provincial minister in the Punjab Cabinet at the time, resigned in protest. He was subsequently also expelled from the People's Party for this act of insubordination.

After General Zia's coup, Aitzaz became an active leader of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), and rejoined the Pakistan Peoples Party during the martial law period. During this period he was jailed several times as a political prisoner without trial for active participation in the MRD movement.

In 1988, Aitzaz Ahsan was elected to the National Assembly from Lahore as a a People's Party candidate. He won reelection in 1990, but lost in 1993. In 1994 he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan. He was reelected to the National Assembly as a Peoples Party candidate in the 2002 General Elections, when he won from two seats - his traditional seat in Lahore, as well as from Bhawalnagar in Southern Punjab.

A senior advocate in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Ahsan is a well respected Pakistani lawyer, consistently given the highest rank by Chambers and Partners ranking of legal professionals. He also made legal history of sorts by having defended two Prime Ministers in the court of law. Having previously fought cases in defence of Ms Bhutto in 2001 he took up a case in defence of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

During his most recent tenure as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan he was a member of the Standing Committee on Interior and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Chief Justice case:
Recently Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan successsfully represented Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's case in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The hearing was being conducted by a full panel of judges headed by Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, and the 13-member panel reinstated the Chief Justice declaring his suspension by Pervez Musharraf regime "illegal."

Human rights activist:
He is also an indefatigable human rights activist and a founder & vice-president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. He has been incarcerated under arbitrary detention laws many times by military and authoritarian regimes. During one such prolonged detention, he wrote The Indus Saga.

During Emergency:
Aitzaz Ahsan was arrested soon after the declaration of emergency/martial law. youtube video 1 youtube video 2/. There have also rumors that he is being kept in solitary confinement and bring tortured. Recently, 33 US Senators wrote to President Musharraf to release Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan immediately, as he is widely respected all around the world.

Literary Contribution:
Possessing a literary penchant, he has also authored the book “The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan” and its Urdu translation, “Sindh Sagar Aur Qyam-e-Pakistan” which presents the cultural history of Pakistan. [3]

He has also co-authored the book "Divided by Democracy" with Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics.