Who? Amjad Malik, 36-year-old solicitor-advocate at his own firm, Amjad Malik Solicitors, in Rochdale. He is an immigration and human rights law specialist.


Why is he in the news? Acted for Pakistan's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, during his attempt to return home earlier this month after seven years in exile. Mr Sharif was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia within hours of landing at Islamabad airport.



Mr Sharif's return posed a major threat to the government of Pakistan's embattled president, General Pervez Musharraf, ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due to take place this year.



After President Musharraf ousted him in 1999, Mr Sharif agreed to leave Pakistan for ten years in return for the commutation of jail sentences he received for corruption and hijacking. The government has insisted he fulfil the terms of that agreement, despite a ruling by Pakistan's Supreme Court that he can return unhindered.



Mr Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League, is challenging his deportation in the Supreme Court.



Background: Mr Malik has a first degree in journalism and a Masters in English literature from Punjab University, moving to the UK in 1993. He passed the common professional examination in 1996 and the legal practice course in 1998, both at Huddersfield University. He trained at Bhatti Solicitors in Manchester, and then spent three years working for the Citizens Advice Bureau in Oldham, before setting up his current firm in 2003. He is chairman of the Association of Pakistani Lawyers in the UK.



Route to the case: 'Back in 2003, Mr Sharif moved from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to London. When in London, he engaged me to process immigration matters and from then on I have been advising on legal matters. As I also have a keen interest in Pakistani constitutional issues, I was picked to accompany him to Pakistan.'



Thoughts on the case: 'It was unimaginable for me - as a British lawyer - that Mr Sharif would be deported after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled he should be able to return unhindered. I thought detention and arrest to avoid unrest might be possible, or at the very worst he could be arrested with a view to prosecution for alleged corruption, but administrative deportation was not in my mind at all.



'A colonel came onto the plane and arrested him on corruption charges. We argued he couldn't do that as we hadn't even entered the country and that the whole process was unlawful because of the Supreme Court ruling. We were taken off the plane [while Mr Sharif was held separately] and I only discovered later he had been sent to Jeddah without any judicial oversight.



'I went to the Supreme Court the following day and was one of a number of people making representations on Mr Sharif's behalf. I expect it may take some weeks until the petition comes before the Supreme Court.'



Dealing with the media: 'A lot of the media were with us on the plane. They were very clear this was a public interest story because one of the allies in the "War on Terror" was denying entry to both Mr Sharif and democracy to Pakistan. The media was very quick to catch on to the relevance of the story.'



Anita Rice