Biographies
Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani
As a member of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani presided over the case of the reinstatement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. When he refused to take an oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, Justice Jillani was deposed from the Court and put under house arrest. He has actively supported the reinstatement of the judiciary, the need for an independent judiciary and the enforcement of fundamental constitutional rights.
Before being elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Jillani served for 10 years as judge of the Lahore High Court where he authored progressive judgments on the enforcement of fundamental rights, the establishment of gender equality and the right to education. As a lawyer, he was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court in 1976 and elected as a member of the Punjab Bar Council in 1978. In Punjab, he was appointed Assistant Advocate-General and subsequently promoted to Additional Advocate-General before joining the High Court.
Justice Jillani has authored or co-authored many articles and publications, including on constitutional issues, Pakistan’s legal system and the rule of law in Islam. He is a frequent speaker at international legal and judicial events and is recognized as an international expert on constitutional and human rights issues. He is also an honorary chair of the World Justice Project, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association.
Aitzaz Ahsan is a barrister-at-law, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the current President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. After President Musharraf suspended the Constitution and removed dozens of superior court judges from the bench, Mr. Ahsan successfully led the legal challenge to have the Chief Justice reinstated. In doing so, he became an instrumental leader of the Lawyers’ Movement, which called for the restoration of the country’s judiciary. In November 2007, Mr. Ahsan was placed under house arrest for his advocacy for and support of the rule of law in Pakistan. After his release, he organized the June 2008 “Long March,” which gathered thousands of lawyers and civil society activists to reassert their calls to reinstate the ousted judges and to uphold judicial independence.
Mr. Ahsan served in the Provincial Government of Punjab between 1976 and 1977. He was Pakistan’s Minister of Law, Justice, Interior and Education from 1988–1993. In 1994, he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan, where between 1996 and 1999 he served as both Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Ahsan served in the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2002–2007.
He has been honored by the Asian Human Rights Commission and by the New York State Bar Association. In July 2008, he was voted among the top 20 public intellectuals in the world by readers of Foreign Policy magazine. He is the author of numerous publications, including The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan.
