Working Groups are the engine of the Institute for Good Governance. Each Working Group is dedicated to developing practical governance reforms and policy recommendations within a thematic area identified by the Institute (including from suggestions by Associates) or reflected in the National Charter for Governance Reforms.
The Institute has constituted its first three Working Groups on priority areas of governance reforms, bringing together eminent experts and practitioners from academia, law, public service, business and civil society:
Convenor:
Mr Shahid Hafeez Kardar
Convenor:
Dr Ikramul Haq
Convenor:
Ms Khawar Mumtaz
Working Groups on other reform areas are also being developed, including on Youth Unemployment, Export-led Growth and Public Expenditure Rationalization.
Associates may join any Working Group based on their expertise and interests. Working Groups meet online, collaborate on policy papers, and submit their outputs — briefs, recommendations and policy papers — for publication and advocacy
Mr. Shahid Hafeez Kardar (Convenor)
Former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Finance Minister, Government of Punjab and Vice Chancellor, Beaconhouse National University; development economist, public policy expert on fiscal governance, education, and institutional reform; Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Dr Ishrat Husain
Professor Emeritus and former Dean and Director, Institute of Business Administration; former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan; former Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity; former Director and Chief Economist World Bank; leading authority on public sector reforms, governance, and economic policy; chaired the National Commission for Government Reforms, the Economic Advisory Council, the Monetary and Fiscal Coordination Board, and the Pay and Pension Commission; was Convenor Economic Advisory Council, served as Member National Economic Council; Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Sen. Raza Rabbani
Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; Senator for more than 27 years, during which he held several key offices, including Chairman, Senate of Pakistan; Federal Minister, Leader of the House; Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of Parliamentary Committees on National Security and Constitutional Reforms; Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Ms. Khawar Mumtaz
Gender and Social Development Specialist; Former CEO, Shirkatgah and Chairperson, National Commission on the Status of Women; Founding Member, Women's Action Forum; leading women's rights activist; Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Brig Parvez Bashir (Retd.)
Governance and infrastructure management specialist; CEO, Lake City Management (Pvt) Ltd, former Station Commander, Lahore Cantt.; Monitor Head, Lahore Metropolitan Corporation; Incharge Lahore and Parks & Horticulture Authority; Senior Instructor, National Defence University and Regional Director, Civil Aviation Authority; Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Dr Ali Cheema
Vice Chancellor and Professor of Economics, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS); Co-Founder, Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP); Senior Research Fellow at IDEAS Pakistan; research affiliate and co-lead academic, International Growth Centre's (IGC) Pakistan programme; Affiliated Professor, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT.
Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed
Barrister-at-Law, Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan; Member, Pakistan Bar Council; Senior Partner, MCA Law Associates; former President, Karachi Bar Association and Sindh High Court Bar Association; former Vice Chairman, Sindh Bar Council; expert in constitutional and commercial litigation.
Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob
Founder and President, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT); governance and democracy expert specialising in parliamentary affairs, electoral reforms, and public policy; has authored and edited more than 100 Briefing Papers, Background Papers and Case Studies relating to various areas of governance.
Mr. Asad Ali Shah
Chartered Accountant; CEO, Asad Ali Shah and Associates; Chairman, Befiler, Pakistan's digital tax advisory platform; former Managing Partner, Deloitte Pakistan and President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP); former advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh on Finance; writes and speaks regularly on governance, accountability, and institutional and economic reforms.
Mr. Abid Saeed
Former Member Federal Public Service Commission; former Chief Secretary, Government of KP; former Federal Secretary for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan; former Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources; senior civil servant with extensive experience in public administration, development planning and local government.
Sardar Ayaz Ahmed Khan Jaffar
Illustrious public service career spanning 30 years; former Federal Secretary for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony; former Provincial Minister for Public Health Engineering, Government of Balochistan; chief of the Jaffar tribe.
Ms. Arooj Waheed Dar
Manager (Working Group), Institute for Good Governance
Dr. Ikram ul Haq (Convenor)
Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan; Visiting Faculty, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS); Visiting Senior Fellow, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE); Country Editor and Correspondent, International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD); leading authority on constitutional, corporate, tax and media laws.
Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha
Professor Emeritus, Beaconhouse National University; former Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs; former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of Pakistan; former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); one of Pakistan's most distinguished economists with extensive contributions in public policy, economic governance and academia.
Mr. Salman Aslam Butt
Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; Senior Partner, Cornelius, Lane and Mufti; four decades of experience of corporate, commercial and constitutional law.
Mr. Ashfaq Tola
Former Minister of State Reforms and Resource Mobilization; Former President of the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA); Fellow Member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan; Member, Tax Reforms Implementation Commission; former Member, Tax Reforms Commission, Tax Advisory Council, Taxation Reforms Co-ordination Group and Revenue Advisory.
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (Ph.D.)
Former Member, Inland Revenue Policy, Federal Board of Revenue; tax policy professional with vast experience of strategic policy making, including designing and implementing policy, its impact analyses, policy review legislation, project design implementation, negotiation and coordination with international organizations (IMF World Bank and OECD).
Mr. Ehsan Ali Malik
Former Chief Executive Officer, Pakistan Business Council and Unilever Pakistan limited; Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; leading voice on industrial growth, trade policy, financial management and evidence-based economic reforms.
Mr. Kamran Nasir
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, AGP Limited; Chief Executive Officer, OBS Healthcare (Pvt.) Limited; former CEO, JS Global Capital Limited; Chartered Accountant with extensive leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry, corporate finance and capital markets.
Dr. Amna Saeed Khalifa
International expert in public finance, tax policy and fiscal reform; Lead, UNDP's SDG Taxation Framework; former Director General, Strategic Planning and Reform, Federal Board of Revenue; senior leader at the OECD and GIZ; nearly 25 years of experience advising governments in more than 50 countries and leading major international tax and governance reforms.
Mr. Muhammad Awais
Partner/Director at The Vertical, a real estate entity. Formerly associated with EY Ford Rhodes, Lahore, for more than 27 years, where he provided international and domestic direct and indirect taxation services and led numerous tax reform projects for the IFC/World Bank and GIZ. Fellow member and Council Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP). He is also a former President of the Lahore Tax Bar Association and served as a member of the Arbitration Committee of the Lahore Stock Exchange.
Mr. Zeeshan Ijaz
Partner, KPMG Pakistan; Fellow Member and Chairman, Fiscal Laws Committee and former Chairman, Economic Advisory Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan; extensive expertise in taxation, fiscal advisory, corporate restructuring, and regulatory compliance.
Ms. Huzaima Bukhari
Advocate, High Court; Partner, Huzaima & Ikram; Former Adjunct Faculty, Lahore University of Management Sciences; Member, Advisory Board and Visiting Senior Fellow of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics; Editor, "Taxation"; co-author and review editor, International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation; expertise in international tax laws, laws related to money-laundering/countering financing of terrorism, and corporate and commercial laws.
Mr. Anwar Kashif Mumtaz
Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan; Senior Partner heading Tax Division, Saiduddin & Co; 35 years of experience in tax advisory, litigation, and corporate legal services, ranging from direct and indirect taxation to international tax and treaty law; President, Pakistan Tax Bar Association; former President, Karachi Tax Bar Association.
Mr. Rana Muneer Husain
Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan; Founder and Senior Partner, Muneer & Muneer; former President, Lahore Tax Bar Association; former Senior Vice President, Pakistan Tax Bar Association; former General Secretary, Pakistan Tax Bar Association.
Ms. Noor Imran
Manager (Working Group), Institute for Good Governance
Ms Khawar Mumtaz (Convenor)
Gender and Social Development Specialist; Former CEO, Shirkatgah and Chairperson, National Commission on the Status of Women; Founding Member, Women's Action Forum; leading women's rights activist; Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Ms Ayesha Raza Farooq
Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio Eradication; Chairperson, National Commission on the Rights of the Child; Former Senator and Member, National Assembly of Pakistan; Chair of Special Statutory Committee on Anti-Rape legislation, Member, Advisory Council, Institute for Good Governance.
Dr Aisha Pasha
Accomplished economist; former Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Government of Pakistan and Finance Minister, Government of Punjab; notable track record of driving impactful reforms in fiscal management and economic policy, including streamlining budgetary processes, enhancing revenue generation, and promoting strategic investment in key sectors.
Ms Sahar Bandial (Secretary)
Advocate, High Court; Legislation & Policy Advisor; Adjunct Faculty, Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, Lahore University of Management Sciences; has provided legal advisory and consultancy services to private sector companies; legislators, government bodies and NGOs; keen interest in women and human rights law.
Ms Nausheen Ahmed
Barrister at Law; Lead Counsel, The Legal and Governance Advisory, specializing in corporate governance and compliance; 30 years of corporate and commercial law experience; teaches at IBA, PICG, IOBM and KSBL; Chancellor of the Textile Institute of Pakistan; independent Director on several high-profile boards, including Meezan Bank Ltd, International Steels Ltd., Jubilee General Insurance, and Descon Engineering Ltd.
Ms Rukhshanda Naz
Lawyer, activist, policymaker, former provincial head, UN Women Pakistan for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's first Woman Ombudsperson for Protection of Women Against Harassment at Workplace; Member Pakistan-India-Afghanistan Forum for Peace & Democracy; Member Women Regional Network; Chief Operating Officer, Aurat Foundation, Managing Trustee of Mera Ghar-NET.
Dr Yasmin Zaidi
Founding member and Director of the Center for Gender and Policy Studies; and Awaz-e-Niswan (AAN); Team Lead for the British Council's Aawaz II Programme, focusing on behavior change, community stabilization, and the protection of women, youth, and marginalized groups across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; over 30 years of experience as gender specialist, social development consultant.
Dr Saba Gul Khattak
Feminist scholar and human rights activist; Coordinator, Pakistan Humanitarian Observatory; former Member (Social Sector), Planning Commission, Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Country Director, Open Society Foundations Pakistan, Senior Gender Advisor for UNDP Pakistan, and Senior Gender Specialist, World Bank.
Dr Huma Baqai
Rector and Professor at the Millennium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship; over 30 years of experience in academia, research, and policy analysis; distinguished author, media commentator, and academic strategist; leading expert in international relations, governance, and higher education leadership.
Ms Mehnaz Akber Aziz
Former Member, National Assembly of Pakistan; former Senior Member, Education Task Force; Adviser to the World Bank; Founding Director, Children's Global Network; Member, Board of Directors, Zara Sochiye, GEO Television Network and Punjab Compulsory Education Commission.
Ms Sughra Imam
Policy expert and social development advocate; former Senator, Member Punjab Assembly, and Punjab Minister for Social Welfare; former Chairperson, Zila Council Jhang, Consultant, UNDP; ex-President of the Global Think Tank Network (GTTN), continues to advocate for inclusive governance and impactful policy solutions by running Abid Memorial Foundation Hospital in District Jhang, running AH Agricultural, Livestock and Stud Farms.
Ms Aasiya Riaz
Joint Director, PILDAT, work involves governance, public policy, strategic communication and leadership; Host and Curator "Context with Aasiya Riaz", interviews and analysis on governance and institutional reform; Director, LSE Enterprises Group of Companies.
Mr Suleman Ghani
Over 36 years of meritorious public service; former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Chairman Planning & Development Board Punjab and Economic Minister; Senior Policy Advisor, DFID-funded School Reconstruction and Reform Programme; Visiting Faculty, F.C. College University's Centre for Public Policy and Governance.
Mr Sibtain Fazal Halim
Distinguished public service career, including as Secretary, Economic Affairs Division and Managing Director, Punjab Mass Transit Authority; also worked for Asian Development Bank; Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, American University.
Ms. Xenia Alam
Manager (Working Group), Institute for Good Governance
The Institute welcomes individuals and institutions who share its commitment to good governance and public policy reform and wish to contribute their expertise to participate in Working Groups and become part of the Institute's growing network
To join an existing Working Group, please:
To propose a new Working Group: