Legal experts call to counter ‘lawfare against Pakistan’

Islamabad : Center for Law and Security (CLAS) held a seminar on ‘Lawfare and Pakistan’ to analyse the role of law-fare in the modern world, evaluate Pakistan’s capacity to conduct and counter lawfare operations, and how to develop a set of operational objectives that Pakistan’s lawfare doctrine should look to attain.

The chief guests of the event included Barrister Farogh Naseem, federal minister for Law and Justice; Fawad Chaudhry, federal minister for Information and Broadcasting and Dr. Moeed Yousuf, national security adviser, says a press release.

The keynote speakers included Sardar Masood Khan (president Azad Jammu and Kashmir), General (r) Zubair Mahmood Hayat HI(M) (former chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee), Ahmer Bilal Soofi (president Research Society of International Law), Anwar Mansoor (former attorney general of Pakistan), Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, (chairman Senate Defence Committee), Justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan (former chief justice of Republic of Gambia and International Judge at the Hague), Senator Syed Ali Zafar (Special Assistant to the Prime Minister), Ambassador (r) Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry (Director General, Institute of Strategic Studies), and Imtiaz Gul (executive director, Centre for Research and Security Studies).

Federal Minister for Law and Justice Dr Farogh Naseem who was the chief guest of the final session emphasised on the pertinence of capacity building within system. He said that no one should be able to say that there are shortcomings in our laws to reconcile with international laws. He said we believe in defensive lawfare but we should also identify the faultiness that our adversaries exploit in such cases. He called on all political parties to rise above politics to deal with law fare against Pakistan.

Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting said that warfare of narrative and opinion is being promoted in the world. He emphasised that we must focus on capacity building to counter these threats and prefer capability over seniority. He said that Pakistan is an important country for the world and cannot be ignored. International legal frameworks are used against Pakistan and there is need to meet these new challenges at a fast pace through modern technology.

Dr. Moeed Yusuf, National Security Advisor talked about how lawfare poses a critical question and stressed the need of different institutions, political, diplomatic, legal and civil to come together to develop a lawfare doctrine for Pakistan. SAPM Senator Syed Ali Zafar who was also a keynote speaker of the seminar said that lawfare should be used as a defence and attack mechanism with full understanding in order to prevent us from being trapped in an unknown establishment of a particular law. He said that law making should be done with a strategic direction. He said that the Senate's Law and Justice Committee will ensure that approved laws will in our national interests.

The seminar was conducted in three sessions. Welcome note was given by Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq Chairman Advisory Board, CLAS. The first session, titled Lawfare: A New Frontier, was moderated by eminent journalist Fahd Husain. President Sardar Masood Khan who delivered the inaugural keynote said that the term lawfare has been frequently used in Pakistan, but now this must not be used merely in speeches and as a reference ‘Instead, our experts on international law should sit together and prepare a strong case against India to ensure the protection of the national and strategic interests of Pakistan and Kashmir’. General Zubair Mahmood Hayat said that Lawfare should not be seen as a challenge, we have the human resource capacity to convert it into an opportunity’ while Ahmer Bilal Soofi further stressed on lawfare opportunities for Pakistan. The second session was on Lawfare in the Context of Pakistan’ which was attended by Jamal Aziz, Director RSIL, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Imtiaz Gul, former AG, Anwar Mansoor Khan. The session began with a keynote from Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed.