Anil Kalhan

AITZAZ AHSAN, LEADER OF PAKISTAN’S “LAWYERS’ MOVEMENT,” TO SPEAK AT NEW YORK CITY BAR

New York, NY, June 27, 2008 — Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and the leader of the “Lawyers’ Movement” in that country, will speak at the New York City Bar on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Ahsan will discuss the latest developments regarding the legal system and judicial independence in Pakistan.

Last November, members of the New York City Bar, along with the New York State Bar, the New York County Lawyers’ Association and other organizations, rallied in support of the lawyers and judges affected by the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan and the deposing of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Mr. Ahsan will provide an update on efforts to achieve, as he phrased it in a recent article in Newsweek, “Justice for our Justice,” and the reinstatement of other members of the judiciary.

“We have been very supportive of the efforts of Pakistan’s legal community to promote judicial independence and the rule of law, and are delighted that Mr. Ahsan is here to inform the New York City Bar of the progress on those fronts,” said Patricia M. Hynes, President of the New York City Bar.

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Who:

Aitzaz Ahsan, President of Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association and “Lawyers’ Movement” leader

When:

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 9:00am

Where:

New York City Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street

About the New York City Bar
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org) was founded in 1870, and since then has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.

NYC Bar Association

More information:
Jayne Bigelsen: (212) 382-6655
Eric Friedman: (212) 382-6754

On Thursday April 24, 2008, the South Asian Bar Association of New York will host its fifth annual public interest fellowship benefit. The benefit raises money to provide fellowships for law students working in unpaid, public interest summer internships. At the event, the 2008 recipients will be announced. Information about past SABANY fellowship recipients is available here.

The guest speaker will be Muzaffar Chishti, Director of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) office at NYU School of Law. Through his work at MPI, Mr. Chishti focuses on US immigration policy, the intersection of labor and immigration law, civil liberties, and immigrant integration. Prior to joining MPI, Mr. Chishti was Director of the Immigration Project of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees (UNITE). Mr. Chishti has testified extensively on immigration policy issues before various Congressional committees. In 1992, as part of a US team, he assisted the Russian Parliament in drafting its legislation on forced migrants and refugees. He is a 1994 recipient of New York State Governor’s Award for Outstanding Asian Americans, and a 1995 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Mr. Chishti was educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi; the University of Delhi; Cornell Law School; and the Columbia School of International Affairs.

Join us at the TamarindArt Gallery on April 24th to support this important initiative! Tickets available here.

Fellowship Application Review Panel
Dimple Abichandani, Director of Program Development, Legal Services NYC
Sonia Katyal, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Elchi Nowrojee, Director and Counsel, Credit Suisse

SABANY Public Interest Committee
Nisha Agarwal (Co-Chair) * Libby Babu* Sachin Bhatt * Sunu Chandy * Surya Ganguly * Sameera Hafiz * Anil Kalhan * Sandhya Kidd * Gowri Krishna * Vichal Kumar * Resham Mantri (Co-Chair) * Swati Parikh * Yogi Patel * Chai Shenoy * Amardeep Singh * Anand Swaminathan * Shweta Udeshi * Sunil Varghese * Hamel Vyas

Platinum Sponsors: Asian American Law Fund and Pfizer Inc.
Silver Sponsors: Asian American Bar Association of New York, Chadbourne & Parke LLP, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

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TamarindArt Gallery

When: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Where: TamarindArt Gallery

142 E. 39th Street

Tickets Purchased In Advance:

$50.00 for Private Sector

$25.00 for Public Interest Sector and Non-Attorneys

$15.00 for Law Students

Tickets Purchased At the Door:

$65.00 for Private Sector

$40.00 for Public Interest Sector and Non-Attorneys

$30.00 for Law Students

Tickets are available for advance purchase here.

If you are unable to join us April 24, 2008, please consider purchasing a $50 donation ticket to help support the SABANY Public Interest Fellowship Program. Contributions are tax deductible and will support the SABANY Fellowship Program.

A film screening and discussion with:
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Kiran Khalid, documentary filmmaker
Anil Kalhan ‘93, Professor, Fordham Law School
Ali Ahsan, Speechwriter, United Nations

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Smith-Buonanno Hall, Brown University

When: Fri, Apr 11, 2008

4:00-6:00pm

Where: Brown University

Smith-Buonnano Hall, Rm 201

East of Brown Street between Meeting and Bowen Street, Providence, RI

Sponsored by Brown South Asian Students Association and Brown Journal of World Affairs

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The Center for Place, Culture & Politics Presents

Demystifying Pakistan: Understanding the Current Crisis

A panel discussion on the military in Pakistani politics, society and economy; emergency, martial law, and the rule of law in India and Pakistan; the rise and subsequent fall of electronic media under President Musharraf; and the politics of democratic protest in Pakistan.

Panelists:

Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, Visiting Professor, South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania and author of Military, Inc. : Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy (Pluto Press, 2007).

Anil Kalhan, Visiting Assistant Professor, Fordham Law School.

Kiran Khalid, documentary film maker and producer, Good Morning America and director, “We Are Not Free,” a documentary short to be screened at the panel.

Dr. Sahar Shafqat, Associate Professor, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Member of the anti-Musharraf/pro-democracy movement in Pakistan.

Moderated by Saadia Toor, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island.

CUNY Graduate Center* * *

When: Fri, Mar 28, 2008, 6:00-8:00pm

Where: CUNY Graduate Center

Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall
365 Fifth Ave, at 34 St, New York

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The Open Society Institute’s Middle East/North Africa Initiative invites you to:
NEGOTIATING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AFGHAN CONTEXT

Human rights advocates in Afghanistan must navigate a careful balance when promoting global human rights standards in a conservative Muslim society recovering from decades of conflict and extremism. Those charged with protecting human rights in Afghanistan must work in a context where Taliban and militia forces are resurgent, a powerful constituency of hardline conservatives support strict and narrow interpretations of Islamic law, and American-led forces continue to resist the application of international legal standards to their own detainees. A local court’s recent decision to levy the death penalty against a journalist accused of blasphemy further highlights the challenges of implementing human rights in Afghanistan today.

Featuring
NADER NADERY
FARID HAMIDI
And an additional speaker to be announced

Moderated by ARYEH NEIER

Nader Nadery is a lawyer, political analyst and social activist. Before being appointed as a member of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, he worked with the International Human Rights Law Group and served as a spokesman for the Emergency Loya Jirga. He is also a prominent leader in Afghan civil society and served as a representative to the Bonn peace talks. He is the recipient of several human rights awards, including the Reebok Human Rights Award.

Mohammad Farid Hamidi is a member of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. A well-known lawyer with extensive experience on criminology and investigation, he also served as a member of the Emergency Loya Jirga, where he was responsible for developing rules and regulation for election. He has worked closely with the Judicial Reform Commission in the training of Afghan lawyers and judges on international human rights law and standards.

Aryeh Neier is President of the Open Society Institute. Prior to joining OSI, he served for 12 years as Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. He also spent 15 years at the American Civil Liberties Union, including 8 years as national Executive Director. Neier has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University for more than a dozen years, and is the author of six books and numerous articles on human rights.

Open Society Institute, 400 West 59th Street* * *

Thursday, February 28th, 6:00-8:00pm

Open Society Institute
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
Conference Room 3AB

Refreshments will be served

RSVP TO cepopenforum@sorosny.org
Please include your full name and affiliation.

Please join the South Asian Bar Association of New York for its first dinner series event of 2008:

Democracy and the Rule of Law in Pakistan in the Aftermath of Elections:
A Conversation With Ali Ahsan

On Monday, February 18th, Pakistan will hold general elections, culminating a year of tremendous political controversy and uncertainty but also a year of tremendous political activism and mobilized civic engagement. Will the coming elections be free and fair? In the aftermath of elections, what are the prospects for democracy and the rule of law in Pakistan?

Join SABANY for a post-election conversation with Ali Ahsan, a New York lawyer and SABANY member who is also the son of the leader of the Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan. He recently returned to New York after spending two months in Pakistan, where his father remains in detention under house arrest. The conversation will be moderated by Anil Kalhan, visiting professor at Fordham University Law School.

Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Diwan RestaurantVenue:
Diwan Restaurant
148 E. 48th Street (Between 3rd Ave and Lexington)
New York, NY 10017

Time:
7-9pm

Admission*:
SABANY Members $25
SABANY Public Interest Members and Students: $15
Non-Members $35

*Admission also includes a 3 course meal.

RSVP to Swati Parikh at swatiparikh@gmail.com

Whose Children Are These?
(2004, prod. & dir. Theresa Thanjan), 28 min

Whose Children Are These? provides a gripping view into the lives of three Muslim teenagers impacted by domestic national security measures. One such program, “Special Registration,” required male non-citizens, as young as 16 from 25 countries, to register with the Department of Justice. Of those who registered, nearly 14,000 men were deported. The film introduces Navila, an honors student who fought to have her father released from detention; Sarfaraz, a popular basketball player who confronts pending deportation; and Hager, a young woman who faces bias and is spurred into activism as a result. Each young person comes from one of the twenty five countries profiled by the Special Registration program (Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt).

From the period of November 2002-December 2003, over 83,000 Muslim men complied with the program and nearly 14,000 were put into deportation proceedings due to immigration status violations. Although the program claimed to be a tool to increase national security, none of these men were actually charged with terrorism related offenses.

Through the eyes of three courageous teens, Whose Children Are These? brings to light the harsh realities faced by Muslim communities in post 9/11 America— including family separation, round ups, bias crimes, detentions, and deportations.

“Whose Children Are These?” is a presentation of the Center for Asian American Media with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding was provided by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York Foundation for the Arts and numerous private donors.

Fordham Law School, 140 W. 62nd StreetDiscussion with filmmaker Theresa Thanjan to follow. More information here and here.

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When: Mon, Mar 3, 2008, 6:00-7:30pm

Where: Fordham Law School, Rm 204
140 W. 62nd Street, between Amsterdam & Columbus Avs, New York

Sponsored by the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham Muslim Law Students Association, Fordham South Asian Law Students Association, and Prof. Anil Kalhan.

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The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and the South Asian Bar Association of New York would like to invite you to a Fundraising Reception for the CHRGJ’s Documentary Project:

AMERICANS ON HOLD
PROFILING, CITIZENSHIP, AND THE “WAR ON TERROR”

Space is limited.
Please RSVP by February 5 to aohihrc@nyu.edu or by calling 646-438-2341

Suggested Donation: $250 per person

What: An enlightening and intimate evening of refreshments, cocktails, live music from classical guitarist Daniel Reyes-Llinas, and a dramatic reading of testimonials by actor Riz Mirza and company. The performance will be complemented by brief presentations featuring Center director Smita Narula, documentary filmmaker Bill Horn, and community leader, Mohammad Razvi.

Who: Civil society members, concerned members of the New York Legal Community, representatives from the film industry, members of the human rights community. All donors will receive credit in the documentary, ranging from “supporters” to “producers.”

Why: Since September 11, 2001 expanded security checks have illegally delayed thousands of citizenship applications from Muslim, South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Arab men. This counter-terrorism dragnet is breaking up families, engendering fear and insecurity, and disenfranchising communities. Come learn about our documentary and lend your support to this important project to demand accountability, motivate policy change, and ensure immigrants’ rights.

NYU President’s Penthouse, 37 Washington Square West, 18th Floor, New York, NYWhen: February 7, 2008 (7pm to 10pm)

Where: NYU President’s Penthouse
37 Washington Square West, 18th Floor
New York, NY

Background:

Profiled Immigrants Delayed Years in Seeking Citizenship (CHRGJ Press Release, Apr. 25, 2007)

Full Report (63 pages), Briefing Report (12 pages), and a one-page summary in Arabic and Urdu

Event flyer available here. Pledge form available here.

Ayesha Siddiqa is a military and political analyst and the author of the recent book, Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy. She is currently a visiting faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and writes columns for various international and Pakistani newspapers. She previously was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Ford Fellow, and has served as a correspondent for Jane’s Defense Weekly. She also has served as a civil servant in Pakistan and is the only woman to have served as the Director of Naval Research. Siddiqa earned a Ph.D. in War Studies from King’s College, London.

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When: Thu, Jan 24, 2008, 6:00pm

Where: Fordham Law School
140 W. 62nd Street
(Between Amsterdam & Columbus Avs)

Rm 430 B&C

Sponsored by:
Fordham Law School Dean’s Office
Fordham South Asian Law Students Association
Leitner Center for International Law & Justice
South Asian Journalists Association
South Asian Bar Association of New York

Fordham Law School, 140 W. 62nd Street

Questions? Email fordhamsalsa@gmail.com

Emergency in Pakistan: Formulating an International Response

Location: Columbia School of Journalism, Rm 601C

The current political crisis in Pakistan will be discussed including the
suspension of civil liberties, judicial purges, media blackout, and arrests
of over 2,000 lawyers, students, human rights activists and academics. The
focus will be on the challenges facing journalists in Pakistan in particular
and how international civil and human rights actors can formulate an
effective response to the situation.

Speakers:

Robert Templer
Director of Asia Program, International Crisis Group NYC

Sami Abrahim
GEO TV NY Correspondent (Pakistan’s premier news channel which has been off
the air since the imposition of emergency)

Kiran Khalid
Freelance broadcast journalist and documentary filmmaker of “We Are Not
Free,” about media censorship in Pakistan.