An attorney-at-law, writer, and policy analyst, Syed Mowahid Hussain was born in Rawalpindi and spent part of his boyhood schooling in Jakarta, Indonesia, during the Sukarno era. He graduated from Forman Christian College, Lahore and went on to earn his LL.B. from Punjab University Law College.
He is the son of Colonel Amjad Hussain Syed, the last surviving delegate, sent by poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal, to the Muslim League session in 1937 in Lucknow, which laid the foundations of the Pakistan Movement.
As a student leader at George Washington University in the 1970′s, Mowahid Hussain Shah was Editor of the “Harbinger”, a student publication. He successfully defended in student court a resolution issued by the university’s International Student Society in support of international human rights.
Mowahid Hussain Syed was one of the first Pakistani lawyers admitted to the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court Bars.
For over 30 years, Syed Mowahid Hussain has studied the interplay between religion and politics. In 1979, he was one of few authors at the time who examined the repercussions of the trial and execution of the Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Mowahid Hussain Syed is a former law partner of U.S. Senator James Abourezk. In 1980, Senator Abourezk envisioned and founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). ADC’s founding director was Dr. James Zogby. Syed Mowahid also played a role in facilitating the launch of the civil rights organization. He and Dr. Zogby wrote ADC’s first publication, “The Other Anti-Semitism” and worked together in researching and analyzing similarities between 19th century anti-Jewish cartoons and modern cartoons offensive to Arabs and Muslims.
From 2003-2007, Mowahid Hussain Shah served as Minister and Special Assistant to the Punjab Chief Minister, Pakistan. He played a major role in the creation of Punjab’s first comprehensive consumer protection law. He proposed a 5-point initiative aimed at ensuring that the disabled be treated with dignity, In 2004, he organized the first ever conference at the Chief Minister’s Office focused on respecting and enhancing teachers’ dignity and status.
