Punjab appoints first woman advocate general

Asma Hamid has represented state successfully in several cases

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has decided to appoint Asma Hamid as the new advocate general of the province. She will be the first woman to hold this constitutional post ever in the history of the office.

On Monday, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a summary regarding her appointment as advocate general, thus replacing Shakilur Rehman.

Asma Hamid holds a postgraduate degree in constitutional law from Harvard University. She was appointed as an Assistant Advocate General in January, 2014 and as Additional Advocate General in March, 2015. She has also assumed responsibilities as Acting Advocate General in charge of the office on two previous occasions.

Being a Supreme Court advocate, Hamid has successfully represented Punjab in several cases in the Lahore High Court and the apex court. Her representation of the state in the distilleries case had won billions of rupees in tax revenue.



She has devoted her efforts to save the state’s land in several cases to date. Most notably, in the Province of Punjab vs Syed Ghazanfar Ali Shah at the Supreme Court, she secured 117 acres of forest land in Sheikhupura in favour of the province from illegal occupants.

In 2017, her proactive efforts to regulate the cement industry bore fruit when the Punjab government placed a ban on further establishment and enlargement of the industry without permission from a cabinet committee.

In the same case, cement plants also now have to cease their use of groundwater in Chakwal, within six months, to maintain the level of holy water in the sacred pool of the Hindu pilgrimage site at Katas Raj, ensuring the freedom to practice religion.

In the Supreme Court, she assisted the court in several human rights cases as well as matters in which suo motu action has been taken by the court, including the Zainab rape and murder case in Kasur, and silicosis prevention case among others.

Hamid has also advised the chief minister on various issues ranging from Energy, Property, Environment, Media, Tax, State and Evacuee Property, Service, Contract and other laws.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2018.