Dr Shazia Breaks Gender Barrier to Head Punjab University Law College

Earlier, in 1993, she had done her LL.M. at Cambridge on a Commonwealth scholarship won in an open nationwide competition.  On April 18, 2014, Dr Shazia Qureshi was appointed Associate Professor on the unanimous and strong recommendation of three experts in Law who had evaluated the work of all applicants for the post. Two experts were from the US and one from Switzerland. Her competitors, all men, tried to block her appointment by filing a writ petition in the Lahore High Court, which was dismissed by the same court.  Law requires that a Principal must hold the rank of  Associate Professor at least. Therefore, she was also appointed Principal of PULC on April 18, 2014 thus creating history. She is the first ever female Principal and Associate Professor of PULC in 146 years. PULC was set up by the British in 1868. She was also the first ever female to be inducted on a full time regular basis in PULC after obtaining a first class degree in law.

After assuming charge as Principal, Dr Shazia Qureshi took the historic decision of ending 146 years of gender segregation in the institution by starting co-education classes at all levels. Her interaction with the students inside and outside the class, her leadership abilities, the clustering of the young faculty around her, her clarity, integrity and firmness have enabled her to take the college out of the clutches of extremists/fundamentalist elements who held sway at PULC in her absence. This remarkable development took a surprisingly short time.

She also obtained a 60 million Pak Rupees grant from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights for the establishment of a Centre of Human Rights. She has also taken steps to begin a PhD programme in the field of Law at PUL, which is going to be launched shortly.

We wish her success in her future endeavours.