Who is Maulvi Iqbal Haider?!

Petitioner of the constitutional petition against the commissionerate system and other laws recently passed by the Sindh Assembly, Maulvi Iqbal Haider, first rose to fame when he filed a contempt-of-court petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1998. It was on his petition that Sharif was presented before the Supreme Court after his dismissal in 1999.
After General Pervez Musharraf came into power by overthrowing Sharif’s democratic government, Haider formed the ‘Pervez Musharraf Himayat Tehreek’ in 2000 and started advocating for the dictator’s programmes.
After the May 12, 2007 carnage in Karachi on the arrival of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Haider also tried to lodge a complaint against the chief justice under section 22-A of criminal procedure code in the court of District and Sessions Judge (East). He pleaded in his application that a criminal case should be registered against the CJP being responsible for the May 12 carnage.
On this act, the lawyers’ community become irritated and took notice of Haider’s plea, banning his entry in the court premises. As the petitioner was unable to attend court, his plea was dismissed over non-prosecution.
Interestingly, when Musharraf came under pressure to resign in 2009, Haider converted his ‘Musharraf Himayat Tehreek’ into ‘Awami Himayat Tehreek.’ After the end of Musharraf’s regime, he filed a constitutional petition in Sindh High Court against the former military president and approached the court for orders to file charges of high treason against Musharraf under Article 6 of the constitution. It is widely believed in legal and political circles in Karachi that anyone can hire the services of Haider for any purpose. Due to his obnoxious activities, the CJP has banned his entry in the Supreme Court also.