Syed Muhammad Zafar (; 6 December 1930 – 19 October 2023) was a Pakistani

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

, lawyer ( Senior Advocate Supreme Court), and politician who was a

member of the Senate of Pakistan The Senate of Pakistan, constitutionally the House of the Federation, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan. As of 2023, It has a maximum membership of 96, of which 92 are elected by the provincial legislatures using single ...

. For some time, he was affiliated with the

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League" (officially registered as the Pakistan Muslim League) is a political party in Pakistan. As of the 2024 parliamentary e ...

(PMLQ).Senior lawyer SM Zafar instructed by wife amid television show on Panama verdict
''Daily Pakistan Global'' (newspaper), Published 29 July 2017, Retrieved 14 May 2018

Early life

Syed Muhammad Zafar was born on 6 December 1930 in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

, where his father worked in the construction business. His family hailed from the town of

Shakargarh Shakargarh (), the capital of Shakargarh Tehsil, is a city in the north-east of Narowal District, Punjab, Pakistan. It borders Jammu to the north and Sialkot to the west Its literacy rate is more than 85% which is the highest literacy rate teh ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. Following the

Japanese occupation of Burma The Japanese occupation of Burma was the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was occupied by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma Independence Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, ...

, his family returned to their native village in 1944.

Career

Zafar began his career as a lawyer in the 1950s. He played an important role during the 1958 imposition of martial law in Pakistan and again in forcing amendments to

Constitution of Pakistan of 1962 The Constitution of 1962 was the fundamental law of Republic of Pakistan from 8 June 1962 until martial law was declared in 25 March 1969. It was abrogated on 25 March 1969 by President Yahya Khan. Background Pakistan became an independent state ...

, which at first did not have sufficient protections for basic human rights. After serving as a judge of the high court and as Pakistan's Minister for Law and Justice from 1965 to 1969, Zafar retired from the government in 1968 and started his own law practice. Zafar and a few of his contemporaries founded the Human Rights Society of Pakistan in 1976. Zafar was awarded an honorary PhD degree in law at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (UoP) is a public university, public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1882, its international influence has made it one of the most prestigious universities in South As ...

's 124th convocation. He retired from active law practice in 2012. In 2018, he quit politics and parted ways with the PMLQ party.

Official posts

*Federal

Minister for Law and Justice (Pakistan) The Law Minister of Pakistan heads the Ministry of Law and Justice. They serve in the cabinet of the Prime Minister. List of ministers *Jogendra Nath Mandal (1947–1951) *Pirzada Abdus Sattar Abdur Rahman (1951–1953) * A.K. Brohi (1953� ...

(1965–69) *President High Court Bar Association, Lahore (1975) *President, Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association (1979) *Chairman, Human Rights Society of Pakistan *Chairman, Cultural Association of Pakistan *Chancellor of

Hamdard University Hamdard University () is a private research university with campuses in Karachi and Islamabad, Pakistan.Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

after a prolonged illness.

Bibliography

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References

External links