Ansar Burney (; born 14 August 1956) is a Pakistani human and civil rights activist and former Federal Minister for human rights in Pakistan’s cabinet from 2007 to 2008. He graduated with Masters in Law from Karachi University. He is widely credited as being one of the first people to introduce the concept of human rights in Pakistan since 1980. Early life Burney was born on 16 August 1956 in Karachi, Pakistan. He is the son of Syed Mukhtar Ahmed Burney. He graduated with a Masters of Law degree from Karachi University. Burney was a prominent student leader with the People's Student Federation in his youth, during the 1970s, and was known to speak out for justice, human dignity, and civil rights. His efforts in the movement landed him in trouble with the military government of the time, and in 1977, at age 20, he was arrested on charges of delivering pro-democracy speeches against martial law and was sentenced to eight months rigorous imprisonment by the Martial Law Court. On his release in 1978, the Martial Law Authorities once again arrested him and sentenced him to prison for a further two months. In 1979, Burney was arrested for a third time and detained for a month. During his detention in different Pakistani prisons, Burney witnessed, firsthand, the deplorable conditions and met numerous prisoners who had been imprisoned having committed no crime nor having been charged. Some had been in detention for over 40 years without ever appearing in court. On his release, and the completion of his law degree in 1980, Burney set up the Prisoners Aid Society, Commission Against Terrorism and the Bureau of Missing and Kidnapped Children in Karachi (Pakistan). He eventually formed Ansar Burney Trust International with offices in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Mirpur, Quetta, Washington D.C., and London. The Ansar Burney Trust is a non-governmental, non-political, and nonprofit organisation which initially worked for the release of illegality and unlawfully detained prisoners, welfare of prisoners, reforms in prisons and mental asylums, to raise voice against Corruption and to trace missing and kidnapped children. However, it later widened its scope to cover all areas of human & civil rights and worked against human trafficking worldwide. Positions held Chairman: Ansar Burney Trust International Established initially in 1980 as the Prisoners Aid Society, Commission Against Terrorism and the Bureau of Missing and Kidnapped Children by Ansar Burney in the Pakistani port