Syed Muhammad Zafar
{{Short description|Pakistani politician (1930–2023)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Syed Muhammad Zafar
| native_name = ایس ایم ظفر
| honorific-suffix =
| image =
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| order =
| office = Member of the Senate of Pakistan
| term_start = March 2006
| term_end = March 2012[http://www.senate.gov.pk/en/find_member.php SM Zafar, listed member of Senate of Pakistan (2006–2012)] Senate of Pakistan website, Retrieved 14 May 2018
| alongside =
| president = Asif Ali Zardari
| primeminister = Yousaf Raza Gillani
| office2 = Minister of Justice
| term_start2 = 1965
| term_end2 = 1969[https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9791908.S_M_Zafar Profile of S.M. Zafar on goodreads.com website] Retrieved 14 May 2018
| leader2 = Field Marshal Ayub Khan
| office3 = Official posts
| suboffice3 = President, High Court Bar Association, Lahore
| subterm3 = 1975
| suboffice4 = President, Supreme Court Bar Association
| suboffice5 = Chairman, Human Rights Society of Pakistan
| subterm5 = 1983
| suboffice6 = Chairman, Cultural Association of Pakistan
| subterm6 = 1987
| suboffice7 = Chancellor of Hamdard University
| subterm7 = 1997
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1930|12|6}}
| birth_place = {{nowrap|Rangoon, Burma, British India}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2023|10|19|1930|12|6}}
| death_place = Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
| restingplace =
| birthname =
| nationality = Pakistani
| party =
| otherparty = Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PMLQ)
| spouse = Saifee Syed
| relations =
| children = 4,{{cite news |title=Veteran lawyer SM Zafar's son passes away |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1459361/veteran-lawyer-sm-zafars-son-passes-away |work=DAWN |date=24 January 2019 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=SHC seeks replies of CAA, others over their 'failure' to give medical care to passengers |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1485877 |work=DAWN |date=1 June 2019 |language=en}} including Roshaneh and Syed Ali
| residence =
| alma_mater = Punjab University Law College (PULC)
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}}
File:Lahore_High_Court_Building.jpg]]
Syed Muhammad Zafar ({{langx|ur|سید محمد ظفر}}; 6 December 1930 – 19 October 2023) was a Pakistani human rights activist, lawyer (Senior Advocate Supreme Court), and politician who was a member of the Senate of Pakistan. For some time, he was affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PMLQ).[https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/senior-lawyer-sm-zafar-instructed-by-wife-amid-television-show-on-panama-verdict/ 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, Burma, where his father worked in the construction business. His family hailed from the town of Shakargarh in Punjab. Following the Japanese occupation of Burma, his family returned to their native village in 1944.{{cite web|url=https://www.shakargarh.net/s-m-zafar-a-celebrity-from-shakargarh/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807024552/http://www.shakargarh.net/s-m-zafar-a-celebrity-from-shakargarh/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=7 August 2015|title=S M Zafar: A Celebrity From Shakargarh|date=27 February 2014|access-date=17 July 2019|work=Shakargarh.net}}
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, 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's 124th convocation. He retired from active law practice in 2012.
In 2018, he quit politics and parted ways with the PMLQ party.{{cite news |title=Senator SM Zafar quits politics |url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/177801-senator-sm-zafar-quits-politics |work=Geo News |date=20 January 2018 |language=en}}
Official posts
- Federal Minister for Law and Justice (Pakistan) (1965–69)
- President High Court Bar Association, Lahore (1975)
- President, Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association (1979)
- Chairman, Human Rights Society of Pakistan{{cite web|url=https://www.wrmea.org/1996-august-september/s.m.-zafar-an-effective-legal-advocate-for-human-rights.html |title=S.M. Zafar– An Effective Legal Advocate for Human Rights|publisher=Washington Report on Middle East Affairs|date=August 1996|author=Richard H. Curtiss|access-date=14 May 2018}}
- Chairman, Cultural Association of Pakistan
- Chancellor of Hamdard University
News media commentator
Death
S. M. Zafar died on 19 October 2023, at the age of 92 in Lahore after a prolonged illness.{{Cite web|url=https://www.samaa.tv/208732917-veteran-lawyer-senior-politician-sm-zafar-passes-away|title=Veteran lawyer, senior politician SM Zafar passes away at 93 |work=Samaa TV |date=19 October 2023 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Bilal |first1=Rana |title=Veteran lawyer S.M. Zafar passes away in Lahore |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1782112 |work=DAWN |date=19 October 2023 |language=en}}
See also
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=1970 |title=Through the crisis |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2674031|language=English |location=Lahore |publisher=Book Centre }}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=2005 |title=Dictator kaun? |trans-title=Who is Dictator? |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/656142099 |language=Urdu |location=Not identified |publisher=Brite Books |isbn=9789698780104|oclc=656142099}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=2008 |title=ʻAvām, pārlīmanṭ, Islām |trans-title=People, Parliament and Islam |language=Urdu |location=Lahore |publisher=ilm-o-irfan|isbn=9789698780029}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=1978|title=Haj: a journey in obedience|language=English|location=Lahore|publisher=Ripon Printing Press}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar|first=S.M.|title=Tazkaray-Jaizay|trans-title=Views & Reviews}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar|first=S.M.|date=1997|title=Understanding statutes: canons of construction|location=Lahore|publisher=Brite Books}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar|first=S.M.|title=میرے مشہور مقدمے|trans-title=My Popular Law Cases}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar|first=S.M.|title=Pakistan Banam Corruption : Awam Ki Adalat Main|trans-title=Pakistan Benaam Corruption (Awam KI Adalat Mein)|url=|isbn=9789663707303}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar|first=S.M.|title=Adalat Main Siyasat - عدالت میں سیاست|trans-title=Politics in the Court of Law (Adalat Mein Siyasat)|url=|publisher=Brite Books, Lahore|isbn=978-969-878013-5}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=2004 |title=Dialogue On The Political Chess Board |language=English |location=Lahore, Pakistan; Brite Books, 2004; PLD Publishers, 2008; Punjab, Pakistan; BRITE BOOKS 2004; Lahore; Brite Books, Edition: 1st ed DDC classification: KIC 324.56 Z17D 2004; LAHORE BRITE BOOKS 2004 |publisher=Brite Books |isbn=9789698780012}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=2014 |title=Be A Competent Lawyer |language=English |location= |publisher=Sagar Publications }}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar |first=S.M. |date=2016 |title=Understanding statutes : canons of construction|language=English|location=Lahore|publisher=Manzoor Law Book House}}{{cite news |title=Launch of S.M. Zafar's book 'Judiciary bound to protect Constitution' |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1290420/launch-of-sm-zafars-book-judiciary-bound-to-protect-constitution |work=DAWN |date=17 October 2016 |language=en}}
- {{cite book |last=Zafar|first=S.M.|date=2019|title=History of Pakistan Reinterpreted: Constitutional, Political, Social|location=Lahore|publisher=Manzoor Law Book House}}{{cite news |title=History of Pakistan - reinterpreted : (Constitutional, political, & social) / S. M. Zafar - Catalogue {{!}} National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/8071126 |work=catalogue.nla.gov.au |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Rehman |first1=I. A. |title=NON-FICTION: THROUGH A LENS, BRIGHTLY |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1551957 |work=DAWN |date=26 April 2020 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0896/9608078.htm August/September 1996, Page 78 Meet the Pakistanis S.M. Zafar—An Effective Legal Advocate for Human Rights by Richard H. Curtiss]
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Category:Members of the Senate of Pakistan
Category:Pakistani civil rights activists
Category:Pakistani expatriates in Myanmar
Category:Pakistani human rights activists
Category:Pakistan Muslim League (Q) politicians