07 September 2022

Headline

“Chosen out of many, A supreme court advocate of Pakistan, Mr. Saif ul Malook has been awarded a first time ever Jinnah Award in House of the Lords, United Kingdom, for his relentless efforts in promoting religious peace and tolerance.”

Origination of Jinnah Award

Jinnah Award is created to give credit to all those who whole heartedly utilize their energies to promote the true vision of the founder of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Quaid E Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He envisioned Pakistan to be a state that supports religious harmony, pluralism and is independent of the cast, creed, color and sect of her citizens. In his very first address to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on 11 August, 1947, he categorially mentioned that “You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state”. But unfortunately, that vision never matured enough to exist in its form of real manifestation which ultimately resulted in formation of laws that make minorities an easy target for extremists. There had been thousands of incidents where minorities got persecuted and never received a justice afterwards. No one wanted to fight for them out of scare because of direct threats to their own life. In this realm, only Mr. Saiful Malook stood and fought for them and helped bring justice to the weak. He verily deserved an award for his relentless efforts with this title as he truly promoted the vision of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in his country.

Independent Organizations

All party parliamentary Group, APPG, is a cross party parliamentary group that primarily focus on provision of basic human rights of Minorities in Pakistan. It is run by and for members of the commons and Lords, including members of high stature from independent organization from all across the world to promote justice, peace and harmony among communities. Mr. Joseph Jonsen, chairman of Voice for Justice after his uncountable contributions towards development in underprivileged communities across the world stand as a lifetime ally of APPG and other partner organizations.

Nominated by International Jury

International Jury of prominent judges were among those nominating Mr. Saiful Malook’s name to be the award winner after knowing Mr. Malook’s real life incidents of valor specifically in Asia bibi’s case as well as Mrs. Shagufta kausar and her paralyzed husband Mr Shafqat Emanuel’s case.  The panel of jury were amazed upon Mr. Malook’s stance, bravery, leadership and efforts to bring justice and marked his contributions to be historic and remarkable as despite of having threats to his own life, he never stepped back but instead he fought for the rights of minorities and proved to the world that it’s never impossible.

Peter van Dalen, Member European Parliament

“Mr. Malooks’s untiring efforts against protecting falsely accused blasphemy victims became prominent when I personally visited him in Pakistan and saw his plea that he submitted in defense of the victims. It contained so much depth that the document even quoted references and proved from Quran to not to give a death penalty to the victims. People with that breadth and depth of knowledge, expertise and professionalism are the one’s desperately needed in every society for justice to prevail. I congratulate him upon his vision, courage, leadership and passion to bring justice as he proved to be a true representator of Jinnah’s vision for the State of Islamic Republic of Pakistan”

Lord David Alton, Co-Chair of the APPG for Pakistani Minorities, said:

“Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisioned and fought for a Pakistan in which all citizens would be treated equally. This award not only memorializes his vision of equality – one which is shared across the world – but also highlights the important work of those who are courageously carrying out his mission in difficult circumstances in Pakistan today. The APPG for Pakistani Minorities was pleased to receive so many outstanding nominations, and the winner Saif-ul-Malook represents a brave and selfless lawyer who has struggled persistently to ensure the release of many victims of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws including Asia Bibi, Shagufta Kausar and her paralyzed husband Shafqat Emmanuel, despite receiving many death threats.”

Mr. Joseph Janson of Voice for Justice

“There are very few who stand to become the voice of a persecuted and fewer are the ones who fight to bring justice when they themselves are under serious life threats. Advocate Saiful Malook fought all those battles and has shown to the world that “No hatred or evil is strong enough to withstand the power of Justice.”