The habeas corpus petition was filed by AGHS in the Lahore High Court on behalf of a trade unionist and human rights activist seeking the recovery of a missing woman and her child. The woman and her son, missing since November 2016 had last been seen with an affluent lawyer and his legal clerk. Due to external pressure, the police had delayed the investigation significantly and no steps had been taken to recover the missing individuals. The petition seeks to obtain the woman and her child’s whereabouts and their subsequent recovery through Court.

The petition challenged the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act, 2017 and the Constitution of Pakistan (Twenty First Amendment) Act, 2017, which reconstituted military courts in Pakistan. The case is pending for arguments in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

A Writ Petition was filed in the Lahore High Court by a bonded labourer who had managed to escape from a brick kiln. The individual sought the recovery of his family which included minors as young as nine months, from the brick kiln. The Lahore High Court dismissed the petition and AGHS challenged the decision of the Court before the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

This petition was filed in public interest in the Supreme Court of Pakistan by human rights activists through AGHS demanding the accountability of a judge of the lower judiciary and his wife who had physically assaulted a minor child domestic worker. AGHS submitted detailed comments with recommendations to the Supreme Court to assist it on the matter of child domestic labour and child abuse in Pakistan.

AGHS filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court on behalf of South Asian Partnership, an NGO that was closed down in multiple districts across Punjab by the Interior Ministry through the Home Department of Punjab without any just cause or reason. The Lahore High Court stated that the Orders passed by the Interior Ministry were unilateral and denied the Petitioners due process. Due to this, the Ministry of Interior was compelled to withdraw the said Orders, allowing SAP to resume its operations.

AGHS filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court on behalf of Taang Wasaib Organization, an NGO working on various human rights concerns, including the rights of minorities and women. The Interior Ministry through the Home Department of Punjab without any just cause or reason closed down Taang Wasaib and government officials harassed its workers on multiple occasions. The writ petition is pending for arguments in the Lahore High Court but AGHS has secured an interim order whereby the Court has allowed Taang Wasaib to resume its operations till the final disposal of the case.

A case was filed in public interest before the Supreme Court of Pakistan challenging by-elections in Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa whereby around 54000 women were barred from voting through a collusive agreement between men of the area and winning party members. The Election Commission of Pakistan took notice of the matter and declared by-elections in the area void. The returned candidate of the election then challenged the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan in the Peshawar High Court through which the results of the by-election were upheld. Through AGHS, a number of women rights activists appealed against the decision of the High Court before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The case is pending for arguments in the Supreme Court.

On 27th September, 2017 at 1:45 am, Mr. Uygun’s colleague, Mr. Mesut Kacmaz, living in Wapda Town, Lahore with his family, was picked up by armed plain-clothed personnel along with his relatives i.e. his wife, Meral Kacmaz and his two daughters, Huda Nur Kacmaz, aged 17, and Fatima Huma Kacmaz, aged 15. Another Turkish national and Mr. Kacmaz’s colleague, Mr. Fatih Avcu, born on 01.03.1983, lived on the first floor of the same house. In light of Mr. Kacmaz’s disappearance, Mr Uygun filed a case in the Lahore High Court requesting the Court to direct the Ministry of Interior to place the names of the family on the Exit Control List, so that the family is not illegally deported from Pakistan or subjected to torture, violence or execution. However, despite a Court Order, it transpired that the family had been deported to Turkey on 14.10.2017. It was further found that they had been kept in illegal custody by unknown personnel, and had been subjected to torture whilst in confinement. After over two weeks of being illegally confined, the family was taken to Islamabad where they were told they would be taken to the Turkish Embassy to meet with officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and would afterwards be sent back to Lahore.

In this judgment the Supreme Court ruled that a bonded labourer could approach the court through informal means, even a telegram. It was also ruled that the form of work in a brick kiln was forced labour and that the court could in its original jurisdiction enforce the fundamental rights of the labourer. This case paved the way for the Bonded Labour Abolition Act 1992.

AGHS appeared in the High Court and assisted senior lawyers in the Supreme Court regarding affirmative action for women for admission in medical colleges in line with Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

In this case, there was recognition by the courts of Pakistan that the Hague Convention should be considered by Pakistani courts to restore custody of children abducted to Pakistan by their Pakistani parent.

Our first case regarding offences against religion in the High Court, where the accused (including a 12 year old boy) were acquitted resulting in large-scale protests by religious extremists on the one hand and religious minorities and members of civil society on the other hand. One judge was killed and AGHS lawyers were attacked.

This case received wide publicity and generated a heated debate in Pakistan over whether an adult Pakistani Muslim woman over the age of 18 can marry a person of her choice. Finally a three-member bench of the High Court (one dissenting) narrowly ruled that a Muslim woman in Pakistan has the right to marry someone of her own will even without the consent of her parents.

Was filed for the production of 208 persons who had disappeared. After several hearings this petition remains pending but 149 persons have been traced.