Legal Career (1955-)
Minto began law practice in 1955 at Rawalpindi where his father and, before him, his grandfather had also practiced. He moved to Lahore in 1958, was admitted, Advocate of the Lahore High Court in 1957 and of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1963. He remains a practicing lawyer and is the Senior Consultant to "Minto and Mirza, a Lahore based law firm.
Minto conducted several cases of constitutional, political and legal importance. These include:
- The Ganga Hijacking Case: Minto appeared for one of the accused, Hashim Qureshi, before a special tribunal set up to try Kashmiri freedom fighters who had hijacked an Indian aircraft into Pakistan.
- The Hyderabad Conspiracy Case: Minto appeared before the Hyderabad tribunal to defend political leaders Abdul Wali Khan, Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Ataullah Mengal, Mir Gul Khan Nasir, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, Syed Kaswar Gardezi and others who had been charged with treason and for working against the Ideology of Pakistan.
- Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari versus the Federation: Minto appeared as President, Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan to assist the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the question of the validity of imposition of Emergency and suspension of constitutional Fundamental Rights by the President of Pakistan.
Minto has appeared in a large number of cases involving issues such as:
- Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code, aka "Blasphemy law in Pakistan", which prescribes the death penalty for defiling the name of the prophet Muhammad.
- The Islamic "Law of Evidence" or the "Qanun e Shahadat" which discriminated against women in that it considers their evidence as not at par with men in certain matters. This law was brought into being during the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq.
- The controversy attached to the Law of Evidence gave birth to a women's rights movement in Pakistan calling for equal rights and equal treatment for women in all matters. (For more on Women's Movement in Pakistan see Women's Action Forum)
Some of the other issues in Minto's legal battles include:
- Constitutional right of workers to form trade unions.
- Electoral laws providing for a separate electoral college for minority religions.
- Discrimination against women preventing them from competing with men for admission to certain educational institutions.
- Dissolution of federal and provincial legislatures by the President of Pakistan and Governors of provinces.
Read more about this topic: Abid Hassan Minto
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