Helping hand: Legal aid centre to help those seeking justice

Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights aims to help those who can't afford litigation costs

KARACHI: Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (RRCCHR) was launched on Saturday to extend legal aid to those who cannot afford it and to increase the momentum of public interest litigations.

The centre has been set up in collaboration with Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER).

The basic problem of the country is the difference in interpretation of various ideologies, said National Commission of Human Rights chairperson Justice (retd) Ali Nawaz Chowhan while speaking at the cenre's launch ceremony at the arts council.

Chowhan, who also presided over the event as a chief guest, hoped that the centre will strengthen the dispensation of justice. He remarked that there is a need of extensive legal reforms in the country and with the help of civil society the objective could be accomplished.



Speaking about the 18th Amendment, he said the subject of human rights was devolved to the provinces but they have yet to make their institutions functional. "The centre can be more resourceful if it establishes a link to the parliamentary committee reviewing the subject," he said.

Educationist Professor Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed said that the constitutional body of the country was itself in need of reforms. He said that with the help of learned lawyers, the centre can help legislators and the government to put things in order.

The centre will be set up at the PILER office building in Gulshan-e-Maymar and will soon launch its helpline and call centre to extend legal aid to the public.

Honouring a legend

RRCCHR has been named after seasoned lawyer Raseed A Razvi, whose career spans more than four decades.

Lawyer Munir A Malik, who rose to fame during the lawyers' struggle for restoration of the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 2007, spoke about Razvi and remarked that he [Razvi] remained an activist all his life whether it was when he was a student or when he entered the profession.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2016.