Sahar Shafqat. “Civil Society and the Lawyers’ Movement of Pakistan.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 43, no. 3 (2018): 889-914.
Attorneys played a crucial role in the 2007–2009 lawyers’ movement in Pakistan by helping to politicize the judiciary and link it to the larger cause of democratization. Their efforts were instrumental in the successful removal of General Musharraf and the restoration of the sacked judges. However, this was only possible because civil society actors framed the movement as a broad, national, and pro democracy cause, enabling the lawyers’ movement to lead the push for the restoration of democracy.