Transitions: Former high court judge, Zahoorul Haq, passes away

Deceased laid to rest at the Gizri Graveyard in the Defence Housing Authority.

KARACHI:

Senior lawyer and former high court judge, Justice (retd) Zahoorul Haq, passed away at the age of 88 due to ill health on Wednesday.

His funeral, held at the Sultan Masjid, was attended by hundreds of people, including members of the legal community. He was later laid to rest at the Gizri Graveyard in the Defence Housing Authority.

Born in Delhi on November 11, 1925, Haq completed his postgraduate studies in 1945 and LLB in 1946 from the Delhi University. He worked with Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the Pakistan Movement as a member of the Muslim Students Federation and volunteer of Muslim League.

In 1947, he received his licence from the Lahore High Court as a pleader and enrolled as an advocate, Chief Court of Sindh in February, 1948. He got elected as the general secretary of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) three times - in 1956, 1957 and 1958. He was also elected as secretary general of the Pakistan Bar Association in 1958 and as president of Karachi Bar Association in 1964.

In 1973, he was elected as the president of Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) and in December 1977, he was appointed as Sindh Advocate General. The following year, he was elevated to the status of Sindh High Court Judge.

He was actively associated with the activities of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Associations.

SHCBA President Mustafa Lakhani said that Haq’s death had created a vacuum which no one could fill. “Justice (retd) Zahoorul Haq had a charming personality and played an active role in the politics of High Court Bar and Karachi Bar. He was always there to help the junior lawyers and even prepare case for them,” said Lakhani.

KBA President Naeem Qureshi also remembered the late judge as a great man and a good judge. “He was very humble and wanted to help humanity,” said Qureshi. “He was very happy during the scout’s programmes as he considered the basic trainings of scouts as service to humanity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2013.