Saad Rasool Law Associates

18/12/2023

"MiLords, we will hold our tongue in respect for the seat of justice you occupy. But, while no one can show a candle to the sun, may I submit with great humility that, in the final analysis of things, national memory does not recall the judicial reasons or expediency behind the constitutional see-saw of the 1990s, or the Reqo Dik judgment, or the Hudaybiya case dismissal. History only remembers that the honorable Court was instrumental in derailing the democratic process, in causing billions of dollars of penalty to our national exchequer, and in helping the powerful elite avoid financial accountability. Everything else – inclusive of cogent legal arguments and judicial reasons – is irrelevant. In the same vein, when the final chapter on this period of our judicial history is written, it will say (factually) that the electoral process was delayed, civilians were incarcerated and tried behind the shadows, political inclinations were discriminated against, and our project of justice permitted, if not facilitated, the plan. And this time, on the back of pervasive technology, people will remember all the names and faces. Everything else, MiLords, will be irrelevant."

My thoughts on the Court proceedings.

Narrating the chronicles of our most esteemed superior courts of Pakistan, over the past many decades, has been a painful endeavour. Recently, in these

26/08/2023

Hiring Associate lawyers (litigation and corporate) in Islamabad.

Those interested, please send your Resumés to [email protected]

05/08/2021

With tremendous joy and pride, SR-Law welcomes the promotion of its newest Partner, Aitzaz A. Chaudhary.

Aitzaz holds an LL.M. from UC Berkeley. His areas of practice include corporate transactions, as well as civil and constitutional litigation.

Please join us in congratulating Aitzaz.

07/10/2018

A review of NAB's performance before the honourable Islamabad High Court, and upcoming pitfalls in the Shehbaz Sharif allegations.

It is great to profess the substance and slogan of accountability. It is, perhaps, momentarily satisfying to see entrenched symbols of a wealthy status quo being dragged through the ostensible process of accountability. But all of it will be counterproductive, at best, if NAB does not focus on ensuring rigour in its investigative and prosecutorial functioning. This is not to say that every reference must result in conviction – that would render the process a sham. But that the sort of glaring infirmity – nay, incompetence – by NAB, which was at display before the honorable IHC, during the Avenfield Reference, must be taken to task.

Political and financial accountability, in Pakistan, is now a national imperative; with or without NAB. And the incompetence of NAB cannot be allowed to stall or undermine this otherwise noble endeavour.

Over the past few weeks, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has become a focus of controversy and intrigue (even more so than it has been during its

05/09/2018

SR-Law (the “Firm”) is pleased to announce the promotion of Mrs. Anum Azhar as Partner at the Firm.

Anum joined the Firm in 2013. Over the past five years, she has made tremendous contributions to the Firm, and its clients. Her practice areas include administrative law, regulatory oversight, family law, and corporate advisory.

The Firm is excited to welcome Anum as its newest Partner, and looks forward to her continued commitment in providing our clients with quality legal services.

01/06/2018

https://sahafi.pk/saad-rasool-advocate-wins-big-case-before-elections-2018-as-lhc-sets-aside-new-nomination-papers/

یہ فیصلہ لاہور ہائیکورٹ کی قابل ترین جج مسز جسٹس عائشہ اے ملک نے معروف آئینی ماہر سعد رسول ایڈووکیٹ کی درخواست پر جاری کیا ہے جس میں الیکشن ایکٹ کی دفعہ 60، 110 اور 137 کو...

11/03/2018

The Contempt Law Debate.

Should judicial contempt be a part of our laws? Can the courts choose to ignore provisions concerning judicial contempt?

As the ‘ship our State’ enters its final stretch in the ongoing politico-constitutional tussle between PML(N) and the honourable Supreme Court, an

07/01/2018

Hudaibya judgment reads as a charge-sheet against NAB's performance over the past seventeen years. Till such time that we prosecute each Chairmen NAB – from General Amjad to Qamar Zaman – the process of accountability in our country will remain a sham.

A three-member bench of the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan has released its detailed judgment in the Hudaibya case, dismissing NAB’s appeal

10/09/2017

How would Supreme Court's order in Sher Zaman case impact the judicial value and authority of the High Courts? Does this mean that only the weak and emaciated are required to abide by orders of the Court, while others (who can exert notoriety) will be dealt with softer hands? Is street power an antidote to law? Is the new law of our land sympathetic to those who can gather enough people to block the GPO Chowk at Mall Road? Do such people no longer need to abide by judicial orders? If someone can convene a hundred black-coats, will he/she not be held in contempt? If so, does this law only apply to lawyers, or will the same rule apply to members of political parties and proscribed organizations?

Just as importantly, if Sher Zaman is allowed to escape the grasps of LHC, even after all the sloganeering and vandalism, why did we convict others (in the past) for contempt of court? Did any of them commit a more egregious contempt (physical and verbal), as compared to Sher Zaman? Should we just scrap the contempt law… or at least make exceptions for all lawyers (and powerful politicians)? Better yet, should we institutionalize certain segments of the society to be beyond the reach of judicial verdict? Should we amend Article 25 (Equality) to state that certain individuals are ‘more equal’ than others?

Also, why was a special five-member bench constituted to hear the Sher Zaman appeal? Why was it not treated as any other case, to be heard by a (regular) bench? What makes Sher Zaman, and contempt by lawyers, so special? Also, why was Sher Zaman not directed to appear before the LHC, forthwith? Especially when we have all seen the videos and footages of sloganeering and stone pelting? While on the issue, why does the larger bench consist only of (honorable) Punjabi judges? Is there any truth to the whispers that a settlement is afoot? Are our courts of law negotiable institutions? Will the law yield to street power of the black coats, as it did so many times during the checkered years of Chaudhary Court?

Just as our national gaze is focused on NAB references against the Sharif family, the review petition in Panama case, and Benazir Bhuttos murder appeal a far

27/08/2017

If MNS and the likes of Sher Zaman have their way, we will have a new social contract that divides people into income slabs, and tranches of street powers – if you have ‘X’ amount of money, you need not suffer through an accountability process. If you can gather a thousand people in the streets, you need not go to jail. If you can convene a hundred black-coats, you will not be held in contempt. If you can call a lawyer’s convention, you may scandalize and ridicule the bench. If you can get (buy?) a certain number of votes, you may steal and still not be disqualified. You may martyr people in the street (of Model Town), and will never be made to answer. If you live in a large enough mansion, you need not justify its means. If you own properties and iqamas abroad, you may escape this country, unscathed.

This has been a harrowing week for the legal community, particularly in Punjab. What started off, earlier in the month, as the latest episode (in a long and

21/08/2017

The party and mindset which attacked the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1997, is at it once again. In a modern day reenactment of that abysmal episode – when PML-N loyalists, under the authority and command of Mr. Nawaz Sharif, ransacked the highest cathedral of justice in our land – the Speaker of National Assembly, at the behest of his political master, has decided to directly attack the integrity and esteem of the honorable Supreme Court, by singling out Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who headed the five-member Panama case bench.

Thousands of years of human history bears testament to the fact that when dynasties and empires are faced with imminent decline, they resort to taking extreme

13/08/2017

During the initial days of disqualification, while traveling between Changla Gali and Islamabad, Mr. Sharif had been (erroneously) told that his popularity was enough to overwhelm State institutions. That if he went to the public, through the GT Road, his reception would be a spectacle that uproots the foundations of our Constitution. And that the establishment – in particular the army and the judiciary – will have no choice but to restore him somehow… even if that means overturning all established cannons of jurisprudence and statecraft. That he did not need to directly criticize these institutions… because the public pressure, in itself, would be a testament of his unrivalled political power.

Boy! Were his advisors wrong, or what!

The decline of a man, his political clique, political culture, and political time, is being televised, live, across Pakistan. At the time of writing this