Ashtar Ausaf Ali

Ashtar Ausaf Ali
اشتر اوصاف علی
Minister of State
Assumed office
25 February, 2015
President Mamnoon Hussain
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
29th and 35th Advocate General of Punjab
In office
2 January, 2012 – 5 April, 2013
Governor Latif Khosa
Preceded by Khawaja Haris
Succeeded by Shahid Karim
In office
20 November, 1998 – 12 October, 1999
Governor Shahid Hamid
Preceded by Khawaja Muhammad Sharif
Succeeded by Maqbool Elahi Malik
Prosecutor General of Punjab
In office
15 September, 2011 – 2 January, 2012
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights
In office
21 December, 1997 – 12 October, 1999
Appointed by Nawaz Sharif
Personal details
Born 19 June, 1956
Lahore, Pakistan
Alma mater Forman Christian College
Punjab University
George Washington University
Occupation Lawyer
Religion Islam

Ashtar Ausaf Ali (Urdu: اشتر اوصاف علی‎; born 19 June, 1956) is a Pakistani lawyer and the current Minister of State, as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law since 25 February, 2015. He previously served as Advocate General of Punjab twice, from 1998 to 1999 and 2012 to 2013. He also served as Prosecutor General of the province from 2011 to 2012, and as Advisor on Human Rights to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1997.[1]

Ausaf came to prominence for successfully representing the Sharif government before the Supreme Court in 1993, overturning the dissolution of parliament by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. As Minister of State, Ausaf has been a proponent of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, and lifting the moratorium on the death penalty.

Education and early life

Ashtar Ausaf Ali was born in Lahore, Pakistan, the eldest son of Judge Iftikhar Ali Sheikh. He completed his Bachelor of Arts from Forman Christian College in 1975, and his LLB from Punjab University in 1980, where he also taught as adjunct lecturer for international law from 1984 to 1988. He became a member of the Lahore Bar Association in 1980, and was awarded an MCL from George Washington University, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.

Legal career

Ashtar Ausaf Ali came to prominence in the 1990s as a litigator and constitutional lawyer. After President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1993, he successfully represented Sharif before the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the dissolution of parliament. The Supreme Court overturned Ghulam Ishaq's dismissal, and Sharif was re-elected in 1997. Ausaf was then appointed Advisor to the Prime Minister on human rights. He was appointed Advocate General of Punjab in May 1998, but resigned from his post when General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the Sharif government in a military coup.

Detention during emergency rule

Ashtar Ausaf supported the Lawyers' Movement for the restoration of an independent judiciary. After Musharraf declared a state of emergency in 2007, Ausaf was detained by the military regime from the Lahore office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on 5 November, 2007. He suffered a heart attack in custody.[2]

Advocate General Punjab

Following general elections in 2008, General Musharraf resigned as President. The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) formed the provincial government in Punjab, and Ashtar Ausaf was appointed Prosecutor General of the province in 2011, before again being appointed Advocate General on 2 January, 2012. He stepped down when the caretaker government took over for the 2013 elections, and resumed private practice at Ashtar Ali & Co.[3]

Escape from gun attack

On 29 June, 2013, Ashtar Ausaf's convoy came across two armed dacoits robbing a woman in Garden Town, Lahore. Ausaf ordered his guards to intervene, upon which the dacoits opened fire on Ausaf's car. Ausaf was unharmed. After fleeing the scene, the dacoits were arrested from Band Road.[4]

Minister of State

Following Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)'s victory in the general elections in 2013, Ausaf was appointed to Prime Minister Sharif's cabinet as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law, with the charge of Minister of State, on 25 February, 2015.

Support for 21st Amendment

The 21st Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, enshrining military courts trying terrorists for two years, was challenged by Hamid Khan in the Supreme Court, while Ausaf advised the government on its defence. Following the Supreme Court's validating military courts on 4 August, 2015, Ausaf called the decision "another strike against terror".[5] Ausaf also said that civilian institutions would be strengthened in tandem with the military courts' time-bound operation over the next two years, along with prosecution and evidence collection. He distinguished previous military courts as tools for military regimes to suppress democracy, whereas the 21st Amendment envisaged them as a constitutional means to convict terrorists.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, October 20, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.