Hafeez Pirzada

With the death of Abdul Hafeez Pirzada at the age of 75 in London where he was undergoing medical treatment, an era ends both for politics and the legal profession in the country. Pirzada, born into a family of prominent lawyers from Sukkur, followed his father into politics. He was a key founding member of the Pakistan People’s Party and legal adviser to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto throughout the latter’s tenure. Pirzada won his seat from Malir in both 1970 and 1977 and occupied a formidable variety of cabinet posts during the PPP’s first government. He drafted the 1973 constitution, a document on which our supreme law remains based and helped build consensus over its content. He was also a principal negotiator for the PPP during the days of the opposition by the PNA but was unable to ward off a coup d’état staged by General Ziaul Haq in 1977. He was a key lawyer for Bhutto during his murder trial and later tried unsuccessfully to persuade the former prime minister to file a mercy petition.
Following the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Hafeez Pirzada attempted briefly in the 1980s to link up with a group of political leaders including Mumtaz Bhutto to struggle for a confederation in Pakistan. The movement was not a success, and after this Pirzada appears to have turned away from politics and utilised his considerable legal expertise to become one of the top lawyers in the country. Through the years he represented Benazir Bhutto, Dr Mubashir Hassan, the Musharraf regime and was in his final days acting as legal counsel for Imran Khan and the PTI. His role in many landmark cases will be studied for a long time to come by students of law. As a lawyer Pirzada took part in acting as adviser to the Supreme Court in a number of key cases. His contributions will be remembered as will the criticism that often also comes through the career of a man who stands at the top of his field. There is no doubt Hafeez Pirzada left a life and career that will be remembered for years to come.