KARACHI: The Legal Aid Society (LAS), in partnership with the Law, Parliamentary Affairs & Criminal Prosecution Department, Government of Sindh, celebrated a decade of the Sindh Legal Advisory Call Centre (SLACC) and launched its Annual Report 2025–26 at a ceremony held here.
Convened on International Justice Day under the theme “Justice Delivered: A Decade of Legal Empowerment,” the event brought together senior government officials, the judiciary, development partners, civil society and the media.
The ceremony was graced by Chief Guest Zia Ul Hassan Lanjar, Minister for Home, Law, Parliamentary Affairs & Criminal Prosecution, and Special Guest Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Mayor of Karachi.
Established in 2014 and formalised as a public–private partnership with the Government of Sindh in 2018 under the Legal Empowerment of People Program in Sindh (LEPPS), SLACC has grown into Pakistan’s largest free legal helpline. Since inception, the toll-free service (0800-70806) has answered more than 605,000 calls and resolved over 363,000 legal queries, reaching citizens across 600-plus cities and towns in all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. In FY 2025–26 alone, SLACC received 85,347 calls, resolved 66,341 legal queries, sustained an 87 percent caller-satisfaction rate, and reached more than 30 million people through its outreach.
The Annual Report 2025–26 documents a year of record outreach, technological innovation and stronger institutional pathways — including NAZ Assist, Pakistan’s first multilingual, AI-powered legal chatbot (available in Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto and English); formal referral partnerships with the Provincial Ombudsman (Mohtasib) Sindh and the Roshni Helpline; and a disability-rights policy brief acknowledged by the Office of the Chief Secretary of Sindh.
Guests also witnessed a live demonstration of the SLACC call centre and the NAZ Assist platform.
Addressing the gathering, Zia Ul Hassan Lanjar reaffirmed the Government of Sindh’s commitment to access to justice: “SLACC is proof of what a determined public–private partnership can achieve. The Government of Sindh will continue to strengthen this service so that no citizen — in Sindh or anywhere in Pakistan — stands alone before the law.”
Mayor of Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab said: “SLACC began here in Karachi and today serves all of Pakistan. I urge every family to keep 0800-70806 as close as any emergency number — it costs nothing, it is confidential, and it belongs to every citizen.”
Barrister Haya Emaan Zahid, Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Aid Society, said: “Behind every number in this report is a person who found clarity and dignity through a single phone call. We are deeply grateful to the Government of Sindh, whose sustained investment through LEPPS made this decade possible — and we invite our partners to help us build the next.”
Delivering the vote of thanks, Chief Legal Advisor Justice Arif Hussain Khilji (Former Judge, Supreme Court of Pakistan) said: “SLACC is a gift from the Government of Sindh to the people of Pakistan. A decade on, our shared task is to sustain it, strengthen it, and take it to every citizen who needs it.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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