Walid Iqbal


Walid Iqbal is a Pakistani politician, lawyer, law professor, and a member of Senate of Pakistan from Punjab, Pakistan and the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Human Rights. He frequently participates in international conferences, panel discussions, and television talk shows.

Early life and education

Family background

Walid Iqbal is the grandson of Islamic philosopher and poet Muhammad Iqbal, and the son of Senior Justice Javid Iqbal and judge Nasira Iqbal.
His maternal grandfather Dr Abdul Waheed was a diplomat who represented Pakistan at the League of Nations and was also the managing director of the Ferozsons publishing house while his maternal grandmother Saeeda Waheed was a Pakistan Movement activist and social worker.

Education

After completing high school at Aitchison College in Lahore, Iqbal went to the United States and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1988.
He then studied at the University of Cambridge in 1989 and 1990, earning his Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations, his thesis being The World Bank’s Changing Relationship with Pakistan 1950–1990.
He also received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Punjab in 1994 and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School in 1997.

Professional career

From 1990 to 1994, while studying law, Iqbal worked as a business executive in Pakistan's private sector.

Legal career

Iqbal specialises in mergers and acquisitions, privatisation, corporate and project finance, financial institutions, investment management, joint ventures, energy and petroleum, asset finance, information technology, telecommunications and software development, and corporate restructuring.
Between 1997 and 2004, he worked for two international law firms, Sullivan & Cromwell and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In January 2005, he returned to Pakistan and started his own law practice. He is an adjunct professor of business law at the Suleman Dawood School of Business, part of the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
He is a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, and is on the board of directors of the Lahore Stock Exchange.

Bar memberships

Political career

Iqbal joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in November 2011. He was the party's candidate for the National Assembly from the NA-124 (Lahore-VII) district in the 2013 election, but was defeated by Sheikh Rohail Asghar of PML-N.
He took oath as a member of the Senate of Pakistan representing Punjab, Pakistan on 14 December 2018. He was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence from 2019 to 2021. He is the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence.

Writings

His published work spans a range of subjects, including Pakistan’s nuclear tests and related sanctions, the country’s constitutional framework, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, Islamic law and constitutionalism, Pakistan–Russia relations, and the philosophy of Iqbal.
Some of Walid Iqbal's publications include: