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Reimagining justice across species: Building an Interspecies Justice ecosystem in Pakistan

Interspecies Justice Advocate | Legal Educator | Lawyer | Filmmaker |  Founding Managing Partner, Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants-Pakistan & Co-Founder and Director Charity Doings Foundation


🔎 In this month’s spotlight, the AfA Policy Coalition is proud to feature Altamush Saeed from EARC-Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation. This blog is part of our ongoing series showcasing the advocacy, achievements, and legal innovations of our APC member organizations.


The years 2024 and 2025 mark an extraordinary turning point in Pakistan’s animal, environmental, and human rights landscape. What began as scattered acts of compassion and legal resistance has now coalesced into a powerful interspecies justice movement — one that challenges species hierarchy, amplifies Islamic ethics of mercy, and rebuilds systems of governance around sustainability, equity, and co-existence.


Through the work of Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan (EARC-Pakistan) as its Founding Managing Partner, and Charity Doings Foundation led by Ahmad Malik and myself, Pakistan’s 1st dedicated animal and environmental law firm and research thinktank, through my academic engagements, and international advocacy, we are laying down the groundwork for what a just world for all sentient beings can look like.


  1. EARC-Pakistan: Legal Power for the Powerless


As the Founding Managing Partner of Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan (EARC-Pakistan), I’ve led legal campaigns that are changing the way courts, communities, and institutions understand animal and environmental rights.


Key victories and actions include:



Since the catastrophic floods of 2022, our organizations have consistently responded to climate-related disasters with a One Health approach — rescuing not just people, but also farm animals, wildlife, and street animals.


Highlights:

  • Mobile rescue units deployed in Sindh and South Punjab leading to saving 8000 farm animals alongside thousands of human beings.

  • Emergency shelters for displaced animals by developing Pakistan’s 1st Disaster Zone Farm Animal Shelter currently operational at Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan.

  • Provision of fodder, medical kits, and community education during crises to address specific needs of women and children.


This approach has laid the foundation for Pakistan’s first animal-inclusive disaster policy model, which we are now advocating to provincial governments.



Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation
Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation

Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation
Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation

  1.  Global Advocacy: COP29, UNDRR, and Beyond


In 2024, I represented Pakistan at:



These platforms have allowed us to:

  • Build alliances across the Global South

  • Center climate justice for all species

  • Make faith-based legal advocacy part of global conversations



Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation
Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation



At the University of Central Punjab Law School and NUST Law School, I teach Pakistan’s first ever courses and submodules on:

  • Animal Law and Advocacy

  • International Animal and Environmental Law

  • Animal Disaster Law

  • Food Systems and Policy


These courses cover:

  • Intersection of climate, food systems, and species justice

  • Islamic jurisprudence and interspecies ethics

  • Hands-on learning through field trips to courts and tribunals


The aim is simple: build the next generation of lawyers who defend not just people, but all life forms.



In January 2025, we hosted Pakistan’s 1st International Animal and Environmental Rights Conference at Pearl Continental Lahore — a historic gathering of visionaries, jurists, and organizations. It was the first animal rights labelled, fully plant based conference in a Muslim majority country. It hosted 70+ speakers, 50+ organizations from across the world and 700+ attendees across Pakistan.


Notable speakers included:


This moment crystallized the interspecies justice movement in Pakistan — no longer a fringe idea, but a full-fledged movement backed by law, religion, science, and public sentiment.




Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation
Source: Environmental and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan and Charity Doings Foundation

  1.  What’s Next?


The years ahead will bring:

  • A national legal aid expansion of EARC Pakistan for animal cruelty and environmental emergencies across the nation

  • Expansion of faith-based curriculum development across Muslim countries and other faiths

  • Cross-sector collaborations for food systems reform, biodiversity protection, and plant-based advocacy

  • Deeper integration of animal protection in climate law and Islamic jurisprudence


This is not just a movement — it’s a moral awakening. We are rewriting what justice looks like when species boundaries dissolve, and when empathy becomes a legal and spiritual force.

We invite you to join us — as partners, collaborators, donors, or believers — in building a world where no being is forgotten, and no voice is too small.


🌍 Charity Doings Foundation📚 For updates on the upcoming book, follow @altamushsaeed on Instagram and LinkedIn or reach out by email at altamush@Charitydoings.org


 

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