Barrister Haya Emaan Zahid

Chief Executive Officer

Haya Emaan Zahid is a Barrister-at-Law with more than 10 years of experience working as a legal empowerment professional. She is nominated by the Government of Sindh as a legal expert for the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners ( a committee that has been providing legal aid, assistance and empowerment to prisoners in Sindh since establishment in 2004). She has been working within the prison landscape both at the grass roots and policy and research level having made key contributions to reforming prison legislation in Sindh. Haya has worked as a  special assistant/ co-opted member for federal government committees notified to improve the situation of prisoners across Pakistan. Haya is a member of the Sindh Public Safety and Police Complaints Commission , National Commission on the Status of Women  and Board Member of the Legal Aid  and Justice Authority. She is a founding member of the Legal Aid Society where she started working in the role of a Project Director.

Maliha Zia

Associate Director

Maliha Zia holds an LLM in International Protection of Human Rights from the School of Oriental and African Studies. She is an Advocate of the High Court and has practised in Islamabad and Karachi with a primary focus on criminal, family constitutional and human rights law. She is a trained legislative drafter and gender and law trainer and published researcher with experience at the national and provincial levels. She currently holds the position of Associate Director, Legal Aid Society.

Ms. Zia is a gender and law specialist, who has worked extensively on issues related to discrimination and violation of human rights of marginalised and vulnerable communities including women, religious minorities and transgenders with a particular focus on gender based violence. As a firm believe on evidence based action, she has been involved in conducting, leading, supporting and presenting research on law, violation of human rights and gender based violence at the national and international level. Her research is integrated into her training techniques, which uniquely blends gender and law training in the Pakistani context. Her training experience has primarily been with the police and judges and she has conducted training at the Sindh Judicial Academy, Punjab Judicial Academy, KP Judicial Academy and Federal Judicial Academy, as well as several police training institutes in Sindh and Islamabad.

As a trained legislative drafter, Maliha believes in evidence based drafting and has researched, drafted and participated in the drafting of several key legislations and amendments, some of which have been passed into law. These have included laws particularly relating to women, religious minority and transgender issues at the national and provincial levels which includes domestic violence laws in Sindh and Balochistan, Sindh Hindu Marriage Registration Act 2014, Representation of the People (Amendment) Act 2017 and several others currently in process of presentation in the Sindh Provincial Assembly.

In her current position as Associate Director, Legal Aid Society, Maliha manages the implementation of the prison programme, which includes a focus on rehabilitation of prisoners through sports and mental health care, implementation of the first ever paralegal programme and evidence based research. Maliha also ensures the integration of diversity measures and issues in all programmes, particularly with regards to gender, religious minority and transgenders. As the lead trainer Maliha also oversees all training material, methodology and implementation, customising it for the different actors of the justice system and the needs of the time.

Shahzar Ilahi

Program Delivery Specialist

Shahzar Ilahi is an Economics and Political Science graduate of the Lahore University of Management Sciences and holds extensive consultancy experience in the development sector. He has previously worked with the Chief Minister Punjab’s Delivery Unit on the Primary Healthcare Reform Roadmap that aimed to improve the indicators linked to primary healthcare units (Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centers) across Punjab.

Shahzar has also worked with the Aman Foundation’s Strategy and Business Development Unit that was responsible to devise and deploy sustainable interventions in Pakistan’s vocational training sector. While at Aman Foundation, Shahzar co-authored a policy paper titled “Strengthening Skills: A National Investment for Tackling Youth Unemployment” that proposed strategies for relevant stakeholders including Federal and Provincial governments, businesses and vocational training institutes to jumpstart the vocational training sector.

At the Legal Aid Society, Shahzar is working as a Program Delivery Specialist where he works closely with Program Managers to ensure smooth and efficient execution of deliverables and also engages with relevant actors in the Criminal Justice System to further organizational goals.

Rukhsana Parveen Khokhar

Senior Project Manager

Ms. Rukhsana Parveen Khokhar is a graduate of Islamia University Bahawalpur with a bachelor in Political Science and Education. She completed her Master’s Degree in English Literature from IUB Punjab in 2005. She is a well-known Woman/Human Rights Defender, revolutionary writer and has overall 14 years of extensive work experience in the development sector.  Rukhsana has worked extensively on Education programs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Punjab and Sindh. She has been associated with several distinguished INGOs, Donors and NGOs such as Save the Children International, Catholic Relief Services International, USAID, DFID, Reach Out to Asia, Human Development Foundation, IMC Worldwide UK, Creative Associates International and Louis Berger International. 

Abbas Ali

Senior Program Manager

Mr. Abbas is an analytical and versatile social development professional with more than 08 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He has an M.Phil degree in Government and Public Policy from the National Defence University, Islamabad, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Karachi University. He is an expert in program management with a demonstrative ability to lead teams in a fast pace and result oriented manner to achieve excellence in development. He remained actively engaged in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of social development sector programs, including access to justice, women empowerment, gender based violence, youth, livelihood, education, environment and enterprise development. He worked for renowned NGOs including Community World Service Asia (CWSA), Hashoo Foundation, Aurat Foundation and Drug Free Pakistan Foundation. He has proven partnership building and networking skills with stakeholders and delivering multimillion – dollar projects across Pakistan.

Fatima Aamir

Research Manager

Fatima Aamir is a Research Manager at the Legal Aid Society. She graduated from Lahore University of Management Sciences with a degree in Economics and a minor in Political Science. She has previously worked as a Research Consultant in Pakistan’s foremost social research lab and, with more than 5 years of experience in evidence-based research and policy analysis, is currently involved in executing socio-legal research across LAS. Her current research marries her interest in gender with her admiration for data-driven policy by exploring the impact of operationalizing special protection measures on victims of sexual and gender-based violence in Pakistan.

Hasan Saeed

Program Delivery Specialist

A sociology and anthropology graduate, Hasan Saeed is a development professional with experience in designing, leading and executing development sector programs; particularly in education, public policy and rule of law. Currently working as the Assistant Manager of the Program Delivery Unit at LAS, he provides programmatic & strategic support to programs across an array of thematic areas alongside designing community-centric interventions zoning in on human security, gender and climate. 

Zohaib Rauf

Manager Communications

Zohaib is a certified and experienced Mar-Comms professional. Having 13 years of diverse working experience in the field of Corporate Communications, Zohaib has been Associated with the Legal Aid Society since December of 2020, extending his support to the Government funded Sindh Legal Advisory Call Centre (SLACC) & Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners (CWP-LAO). Since then Zohaib has taken over the challenge of taking control of the Communications department and its activities; which include Strategy Development, Content Development, Digital & Direct Marketing, along with Event management.

He had earlier remained associated with several well-known several national & globalized organizations such as Precision Health Consultants, Deloitte Yousuf Adil Chartered Accountants, SINA Welfare Trust, Marie Stopes Society, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, and the like. He has been associated with the development sector for over 9 years, serving the Health, Education, & Legal sectors of Pakistan’s government & non-government sectors.

His area of expertise can be more comprehensively subcategorized into Branding & Marking, Social & Digital Media Management, Graphic Designing, Film making, Photography, Content Writing, Donor Liaison, and relationship management. He had earlier done his Graduation & Masters in the field of Marketing from PAF-KIET & Iqra University respectively.

Syed Rabi Shad

Admin & Procurement Manager

Syed-Rabi Shad is an accomplished professional with a proven track record, ready to bring leadership, innovation, and professionalism to the role of Procurement and administration Operations with more than 14 years of experience working as a professional. Aspiring professional seeking a challenging and dynamic position as an Admin & Procurement Manager in Legal Aid Society committed to fostering long-term growth and maintaining high standards of excellence. Eager to contribute leadership, innovation, and professionalism to drive organizational success.

With a proven track record, he is an accomplished professional known for his commitment to leadership, innovation, and professionalism—a valuable asset to any organization. Having completed an MBA from the esteemed University of Karachi, he is an aspiring professional seeking a challenging position that aligns with his dedication to long-term growth and excellence. Eager to contribute his skills and experience, he is poised to drive success within an organization.

Sahar Maqbool

Program Manager

Ms. Sahar post graduated in Gender Studies with a graduation in Law. She has 12 years of professional experience with different national and international organizations in Pakistan. During her professional journey, she has worked in different thematic areas like women’s economic empowerment, gender and Livelihood, the rule of law, and emergency and humanitarian response. She has hands-on experience in project management, grants management, financial management, communication and reporting, team management, and conducting various types of project studies like baseline, mid-term evaluation and final project evaluation. 

Her professional journey goes on with organizations like AWAZ Foundation Pakistan, Strengthening Participatory Organization, DAI-Pakistan, International Rescue Committee, World Wide Fund-Pakistan, and last but not least, Legal Aid Society. She also represented her employers at international forums in Bangladesh, UAE, Thailand and Turkey for training and exposure visits. 

Waqar Ahmed

Head of Internal Audit

Qualified Audit and Finance professional having experience of more than 10 years in the field of Internal Audit, Risk and Controls. His professional qualification includes Chartered Accountancy, ACCA & APFA. He is also, an active member of ACCA-UK, PIPFA & IFAC. Currently working as Head of Internal Audit at LAS, he primarily involves in identifying system deficiencies, risks & testing of existing controls and provide guidance to improve the current system to minimize risks and strengthen internal controls.

Zummer Mumtaz

Manager of Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning

Zummer leads the Legal Aid Society’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) department. She collaborates closely with program teams to define and execute their MEL strategy, ensure rigorous monitoring of processes and performance, and measure outcomes and results across various LAS programs. She is a Fulbright scholar and graduated with a Master’s in Research and Evaluation from Boston College, USA, in 2022. She has previously worked on program delivery and research as a Senior Associate with a global public health organization (IRD Pakistan) and conducted impact evaluations for 2 educational projects during her affiliation with TCF Pakistan. Her expertise spans the sectors of public health and education, specifically pertaining to program evaluation and research. Her interest and passion primarily lie in the field of M&E, with 4+ years of experience in the same field. Before joining TCF, Zummer acquired her Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Lahore University of Management Sciences in 2018.