Law and public advocacy

Shehla Zia was a Pakistani lawyer and women’s rights activist associated with legal practice in Lahore. A tribute published by Naya Daur identifies her among the founders of AGHS Law Associates and the Women’s Action Forum. Her name also appears in a significant Supreme Court case about environmental risk.[3][1]

Working with other women lawyers

In a tribute excerpt reproduced in 2021, Asma Jahangir recalls establishing AGHS Law Associates in Lahore with Shehla Zia, Hina Jilani and Gulrukh Rehman. She describes male colleagues’ ridicule and predictions that the partnership would fail. Her recollection instead emphasises a firm that thrived and relationships that endured after Zia moved to Karachi and Islamabad. This is a collaborator’s account of shared professional work, read through a later reprint whose original publication details remain unknown.[3]

A petition and an uncertain risk

Zia was also a named petitioner in the grid-station proceeding reported as Shehla Zia and others v. WAPDA. The reproduced 1994 Supreme Court order traces the case to Islamabad residents’ 1992 letter. Its reasoning considered life and dignity under Articles 9 and 14 alongside concerns about the proposed installation. Scientific uncertainty was central: the order did not establish that exposure had conclusively caused disease. It directed expert investigation through NESPAK and required public notice and opportunities to raise objections. This was a way of responding to an uncertain risk through inquiry and participation. The judgment records the court’s reasoning and directions, rather than making every argument the petitioner’s own writing or proving that all subsequent safeguards worked.[1]

Legal reform and remembrance

Aurat Foundation’s February 2016 commemoration remembers Zia as a co-founder and Women’s Action Forum member, linking her work with legal protection and reform. Its Lahore gathering brought activists from different Punjab districts together with staff and human-rights advocates. The account records institutional remembrance after her death in 2005. It places her contribution within continuing organisational work, beyond the single environmental case for which she is frequently cited. The tribute is evidence of how colleagues presented that legacy, rather than an independent audit of every reform attributed to her.[2]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Supreme Court of Pakistan; order by Saleem Akhtar J.; ADB-hosted reproduction. Shehla Zia and others v.WAPDA, PLD 1994 Supreme Court 693 ↗historical judgment reproduction · Source date: 1994 · Locator: Actual 17-page reproduction; case/header p. 1; constitutional discussion p. 6; uncertainty, NESPAK referral and public-hearing directions pp. 14–17; hearing 12 February 1994. Accessed 2026-11-02.The actual reproduced order was inspected. Later compliance, medical causation and the current legal position were not independently assessed.Return to Law and public advocacy, paragraph 1 ↑Return to A petition and an uncertain risk, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Aurat Foundation. National Women’s Day Celebrated ↗institutional commemoration · Source date: 2016-02-12 · Locator: Actual 2016 event account, discussion of co-founder Shehla Zia’s legal reform work; later Simi Kamal and Nilofar Bakhtiar memorial pages read for identity/repetition only. Accessed 2026-11-02.The institutional commemoration was inspected. Its anniversary arithmetic and unrelated political claims are excluded.Return to Legal reform and remembrance, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Asma Jahangir, first-person tribute excerpt; reproduced by Naya Daur News Desk. Shahla Zia: A Tireless Champion of Pakistani Women’s Legal Rights—Asma Jahangir tribute excerpt ↗attributed first-person excerpt in a later reprint · Source date: 2021-03-01 · Locator: Actual reprint dated 1 March 2021; attribution and quoted excerpt at web-reader lines 65–67; only the final four-partner recollection is proposed for use. Accessed 2026-11-02.The actual attributed excerpt in the later reprint was inspected. The original tribute’s publication identity remains unestablished.Return to Law and public advocacy, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Working with other women lawyers, paragraph 1 ↑
Help improve this entry. Suggest a correction with a source. · Read recorded changes
Record PH-PEO-0090 · English edition · human review not performed