Ali Ahmad Kurd ( ur, ), is a Pakistani lawyer who has been president of the

Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan The Supreme Court Bar Association ( ur, )(SCBAP) is an association established in 1989 comprising the supreme court lawyers in Pakistan. The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973 provides for the forming, recognition and functioning of ...

and is prominent in the

Lawyers' Movement The Lawyers' Movement, also known as the Movement for the Restoration of Judiciary or the Black Coat Protests, was the popular mass protest movement initiated by the lawyers of Pakistan in response to the former president and army chief Pervez Mus ...

in that country. He opposed former

Pakistani President The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

Activism

While vice-chairman of the Balochistan Bar Association in 2002, Ali Ahmad Kurd staged a protest burning of amendments to the constitution that had been proposed by Musharraf. The action formed part of wider protests by lawyers' associations, religious bodies and political parties in reaction to what they perceived to be attempts by Musharraf to undermine his opponents and consolidate his own power. Kurd was briefly detained on 29 April 2007 in

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

on the charges of inciting people during an absentia funeral of

Nawab Akbar Bugti Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti ( Balochi, Urdu: ; 12 July 1927 – 26 August 2006) was a Pakistani politician and the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch people who served as the Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochis ...

a year earlier. His detention was protested by lawyers and police released him, claiming that there had been no arrest and that the matter was a misunderstanding. Kurd was at that time vice-chairman of the

Pakistan Bar Council The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) ( ur, ) was established by the Parliament in 1973 under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act. It is the highest elected body of lawyers in Pakistan. It has twenty two members elected from across the count ...

. After imposing martial law in Pakistan on 3 November 2007, Musharraf suspended the constitution and Kurd was among those placed under house arrest. He was released in March 2008. Later, in March 2009 when President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Kurd led protests by lawyers seeking the return of an independent judiciary. These protests were influential in the reinstatement of Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry as Chief Justice. Chaudhry had been removed from his position by Musharraf and the decision was not reversed under the presidency of

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakistan ...

until the lawyers began a mass march from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

that was supported by large crowds and coincided with rioting. In 2012, Kurd was considered as a nominee for the post of

Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan The Chief Election Commissioner is the authority and the appointed chair of the Election Commission of Pakistan— an institution constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and provincial legislatures. Befo ...

by the

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a centre-right and liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party ...

but was ruled out of contention due to constitutional ineligibility. He had also been considered as a possible caretaker prime minister.

Activism

See also

References

Further reading