Aspiring lawyers and students for law doctorate degree program on Wednesday urged public sector Shaheed Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law (SZABUL) Karachi to establish its campus in twin cities ‘Rawalpindi & Islamabad’ in order to provide quality research education opportunity in law for betterment of society.
Underscoring dire need of a national law university in federal capital, President Islamabad High Court Bar Association Syed Javed Akbar Shah said the SZABUL campus in the town would have great impact over imparting law education in the Pothohar region to create research friendly environment in domain of law.
It is pertinent to mention that during 2007 in Musharraf regime, a National Law University (NLU) project was launched in Islamabad but later the Higher Education Commission Islamabad failed to implement the project on the pretext that most of the law departments of universities in the country have adopted curriculum of the NLU with minor changes.
Like other disciplines of education, national level law university presence is required in order to synchronize HEC law curriculum across the board in the country. However, till establishment of a national law university, it would be a reasonable act of the SZABUL administration to fill the gap by establishing campus in Islamabad.
An author of many law books and former Additional Attorney General for Pakistan Waqar Rana noted, “Definitely there should be a law research university in the town as we terribly lack of research in domain of law”.
Former senior vice president and general secretary of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) Sardar Nabila Irshad expressed, ” Its the best time to have law research university in Islamabad where students from Azad Kashmir will have opportunity for attaining knowledge in public sector university.
A young lawyer of the National Industrial Relation Commission Islamabad Akhtar Anjum expressed, “There are few seats for LLM and Ph.D law program in International Islamic University Islamabad which means I left no option but to apply SZABUL for PhD in Karachi but I can’t afford to leave Islamabad for some certain reasons”.
A corporate lawyer of Islamabad District Bar Association Syed Zawedul Hassan Najam, willing to secure LLM degree, maintained, “it would not possible for me to travel Karachi for the purpose on the grounds that currently I am practicing lawyer in Islamabad – in the existing contemporary era if someone interested to purse for higher education, must be given opportunity at the nearest vicinity.
Kamran Nazir Malik, who recently has completed LLB program from a private sector university said that he is confident to qualify admission test for LLM degree program but cannot afford huge fee to a private sector university in Islamabad. Malik also urged the SZABUL administration to operate Islamabad campus being specific university of law.
Former vice president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association Akram Chaudhry said that SZABUL is the only public sector university which is imparting law education in the country saying its Islamabad campus will not only support positivism in domain of law but will also impart quality education. Chaudhry revealed that Higher Education Commission has also allowed the University to operate its campus in Capital of Pakistan.
