LAHORE: The fourth edition of the annual two-day Asma Jahangir Conference is set to open on Saturday (today) at a local hotel here.

Organised by the AGHS Legal Aid Cell with the support of the Asma Jahangir Foundation, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the event is open to the public and would be held at Avari Hotel.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Crisis of Constitutionalism in South Asia’ in lieu of the wave of political instability gripping the region, and features around two dozen panel discussions. Besides local experts and politicians, the event also features in-person participation from international speakers, including those from India who could not get a visa for last year’s event and crossed the border on Friday.

The conference would kick off on Saturday morning with a session on ‘Constitutionalism? The Role of Institutions’ to be attended by senior Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and others from the legal fraternity and several envoys.

A session on post-flood rehabilitation would have federal minister Ahsan Iqbal as the keynote speaker among other panelists. Saroop Ijaz is scheduled to moderate a session on ‘The Need for Constitutional Courts’ with former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani as the keynote speaker.

Veteran journalist Rashed Rahman would be moderating a discussion on disenfranchisement in Balochistan. A session on the ‘Constitutional Duties of a Speaker’ would be attended by former speakers and deputy speakers of the National and provincial assemblies. Journalist Rina Saeed Khan would moderate a session on climate change.

A session on regulating social media would have Senator Afnanullah Khan, journalist Matiullah Jan, lawyer and activist Nighat Dad and lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazir among others as panelists. A session on the plight of the transgender community would be moderated by lawyer Reema Omer and feature activists, politicians and scholars.

The session on enforced disappearances would have Law Minister Azam Tarar as the keynote speaker along with activists, lawyers and lawmakers as speakers.

The conference is scheduled to culminate with a discussion on the ‘Role of Political Parties in Upholding Democratic Rights’ to be addressed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PTI MNA Munaza Hassan.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2022