IHC CJ underscores critical thinking in legal education

Islamabad : Critical thinking, reasoning, and argument for the sake of knowledge are the key attributes to excel in the legal education, said Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah on Friday.

Addressing a two-day international conference organised by the Department of Law of International Islamic University on 'Legal Education in Pakistan' on the Faisal Masjid Campus, Justice Athar Minallah said the IIU teachers had introduced him and others to renowned law experts to the Muslim legacy in legal education, methodology of benefiting from the teachings of Mujtahideen and ways to utilize Islamic law of Fiqh.

He also shed light on the preservation of life and said Islamic Fiqh had greatly emphasized on it.

He hailed the IIU and his alumni for services in legal education.

The conference was attended by national and international scholars hailing from China, Malaysia and Australia who presented around 40 research papers in the conference focused on challenges in the legal education, opportunities for progress, scope, and other relevant topics.

Participants asked bar councils, Higher Education Commission and universities to prepare regulations for legal education through joint deliberations and discussion. They recommended that upgradation of legal education and its curriculum be introduced according to the contemporary requirements and technology be utilised in this regard.

The participants also agreed that institutions linked to the legal education must be taken on board while making changes in the legal education system.

In various sessions of the conference, participants discussed topics such as challenges in the legal education, scope of the legal education, methodologies of legal teaching, impact of globalisation on legal education.

The concluding ceremony was also addressed by IIUI Rector who called upon educational institutions to bring law experts and researchers to a platform to explore challenges and solution with recommendations of improvements.

“The law department has recently established law clinics, which is a positive step as this development will provide opportunities to graduates to learn practical skills,” he said.

Dr. Tahir Hakeem, Dean Faculty of Shariah and Law (FSL) highlighted the importance of legal education in the light of Islamic teachings.

He also thanked the IIU administration, HEC and Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD).

Executive Director of the Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue Dr. Husnul Amin also spoketo the audience and shared his thoughts on collaboration of the conference.

Dr. Hafiz Aziz ur Rehman, Chairman Law department presented the recommendation of the conference, while he also apprised the participants regarding objectives of the conference saying that the conference is focused to address issues in the legal education and commence a debate for reconstruction in the e legal education.

He added that the conference was aimed at creating synergies and linkages for promising experiments and experience sharing on the sidelines of the conference. He said the participants will discuss innovation in the legal education area and look into the curriculum, quality, research in higher education in law.

Almost every minor and major issue concerning the legal education in Pakistan was deliberated upon by the learned participants.

The Penal Discussion chaired by Justice Qazi Khalid (VC SZABUL) included Raza Chauhan (DG Acad HEC), Gulzar (nominee of V/P PBC), Anaitullah (Principal of the Law College, University of Peshawar), Sami Uzair (former principal of the Law College University of Punjab), Dr. M. Munir (V/P IIU), Dr. Farkhanda Zia (VP IIU) and Dr. M Mushtaq (DG Shariah Academy). The discussion was moderated by Dr. Azizur Rehman, chairman of the IIU Department of Law.