British Pakistan Law Council (BPLC), which was launched here on late Thursday, would bring together the legal communities of England and Pakistan, said Islamabad's envoy to London Dr Maleeha Lodhi.
"Today's event is the further testimony to the multidimensional and robust relationship between Pakistan and Britain," said Maleeha while addressing the launching ceremony of the Council at Pakistan High Commission.
Besides a large number of solicitors, it was attended by Federal Minister for Investment and Privatisation Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh; the Council President Peter Williamson, UK Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan Hamish St. Clair Daniel and Regional Adviser Western Asia Department for Regional Development Eamoinn Taylor.
Pakistanis have special reverence for the lawyers, as it was a great lawyer from the Lincoln Inn, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who carved out a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Sub-continent, she said.
The establishment of the society "is another sign of the growing and dynamic bilateral ties between our two nations," she said.
Its importance could be judged from the fact that Law Council has been launched by the top political leadership of the United Kingdom and Pakistan.
"In view of the close relationship between Britain and Pakistan, I am delighted to launch the British Pakistan Law Council project and website in conjunction with the Hon. Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom," Maleeha quoted President Pervez Musharraf as saying while launching the Law Society in Karachi last month.
President Musharraf said, "the formation of the British Pakistan Law Council is particularly important and will hopefully create an active link between the legal communities of both nations. I am happy to see that the British Pakistan Law Council has used the innovative idea of a website to allow for inexpensive communication between lawyers and law students to the benefit of both. I wish the British Pakistan Law Council every success in the future."
Dr Maleeha said that the Law Council showed that relations between the two countries were strong not just at the official level but at the people-to-people level "where they count the most."
It is co-chaired by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nazim Hussain Siddique and which comprises the Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court, the President of the Law Society, the Minister for Constitutional Affairs for the United Kingdom, Attorney General for Pakistan, the British High Commissioner to Islamabad Mark Lyall Grant and Dr Maleeha Lodhi.
Wishing it success, she hoped, the Legal Council would provide a precedent and a model for other organisations from other professions.
It has been set up in conjunction with the Law Society of England and Wales and interested Pakistani lawyers. It is the brainchild of Mahnaz Malik (the Co-ordinator Chair of the British Law Council), who was recognised as the best young lawyer in Britain in 2001, the only Pakistani to receive this honour, indeed the only Asian to do so.
The Council's Pakistan chapter was launched in Karachi last month. It had already emerged the most successful legal bilateral entity in England. It has over three hundred members from across Pakistan and the United Kingdom within one month of its creation.
The Legal Council is the largest representative and regulatory body in the UK with some 113,000 members who hold the title of solicitor.
Ten percent of the Law Society's membership is based with international legal practices throughout the world and almost 8 percent of membership are from an Asian background.
The British Pakistan Law Council is supported by the Law Society of England and Wales.
Speaking at the occasion the British Pakistan Law Society's President Peter Williamson said, "the British Pakistan Law Council will provide an important platform for lawyers and legal organisations in both countries to work together on matters of common interest such as anti-corruption, legal reform ad human rights."
The Board of BPLC includes, Attorney General of Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan; David Lammy, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Department of Constitutional Affairs (Minister in the Department of Constitutional Affairs); President of the Law Society of England and Wales Peter Williamson' Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court Islamic Court Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf; British High Commissioner to Pakistan Mark Lyall Grant and Pakistan envoy to the UK Dr Maleeha Lodhi.
The website of the Law Society generated 176,525 hits within a span of 15 days of launch. The site attracted over 1,500 visitors who generated more than 12,500 page views. The Law Society has urged the more members to join the forum free of any fee and share their views at www.britpaklaw.com/bplcforum.
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