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.

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 city of Karachi, the Ansar Burney Trust International (as it is now known) was the first Pakistani organization to fight for the concept of human rights in Pakistan.

It also works for the rehabilitation and welfare of the families of these victims on humanitarian grounds in the greater interest of justice and humanity without any affiliation or consideration for any political party, group or activity.

The Trust has made steady progress in achieving its objectives and has started a number of centers for various projects in Pakistan and abroad.

It also publishes newsletters and human rights reports to spread awareness of issues and to encourage more people to become involved.

On 16 November 2007, Ansar Burney was sworn in as Pakistan's caretaker federal minister for the newly established Human Rights ministry.

He was in charge of establishing the ministry, creating a national commission on human rights, and overseeing the general elections in Pakistan.

During his term as a federal minister, Burney visited 25 prisons and mental asylums throughout Pakistan, resulting in the release of several hundred innocent persons including children as young as seven.

On 27 March 2008, Ansar Burney was elected unopposed for a term of three years as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and due to "his recognized experience in the field of human rights and acknowledged competence and impartiality, Burney received wide support from all regional groups of the Council.

[4] Arrested by police at age 20 on charges of murder because he had the same name as the person they were looking for, Meher Din spent the next four years behind bars until he was acquitted.

Rather than being released, he was re-arrested on another murder charge and spent the next seventeen years behind bars without ever appearing in court.

[10] Investigations by Burney and his organisation have uncovered that many condemned to death in Pakistan are in fact either innocent victims of false testimonies or circumstances, and are now mentally and physically disabled due to their decades-long confinement in harsh and inhumane conditions within Pakistani prisons.

[citation needed] Ansar Burney is an internationally recognised campaigner against human trafficking and slavery, and has been working against such practices in Pakistan, the Middle East, and Africa for decades.

During 2003–04 in the UAE alone, as per reports by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the US State Department, Burney had managed to rescue and repatriate over 400 children.

[13] By 2005, the use of child camel jockeys was banned in the UAE, and in other neighbouring Gulf nations the year after, and in recognition the Ansar Burney Trust was declared an international best practice by the US State Department in its 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report.

The report stated: A noted Pakistani human rights activist, Ansar Burney has worked relentlessly to bring to light the plight of thousands of South Asian and African children trafficked to Arab countries in the Persian Gulf for exploitation as camel jockeys.

He is quick to point out, however, that much more needs to be done to rescue, rehabilitate, and repatriate thousands of trafficked children throughout the Gulf region.

[16][17][18] Ten Pakistani taekwondo players, who were representing their country in games being held in Latvia, were arrested in 2003 on terrorism charges.

[19][20] In March 2005, 60 Pakistanis arrived legally in Khartoum, Sudan in search of a better future and to work a job they were promised by an agency at an oil company.

Surrounded by armed guards and with no escape, the men spent five months in the private prison, working as slave labourers and fed mostly boiled rice and dirty water.

When they finally managed to contact the Pakistani Embassy in Sudan they were given full support – until it was revealed that the company that arranged their travel and sold them into slavery was actually owned by a senior minister in Pakistan.

[21][22][23][24][25] MV Suez, a Panamanian flag cargo vessel with 22 crew members was hijacked by Somali pirates on 4 August 2010.

Burney travelled to the UAE, Egypt, Somalia, and India in a bid to secure the release of the crew members.