Sharifuddin Pirzada

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Picture of a young Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada standing behind Jinnah and Gandhi

Syed (Arabic: سيد‎) Sharifuddin Pirzada (Urdu: پیرزادا ), NI, (born 12 June 1923), a direct descendant of Shaikh (Arabic: شيخ‎) Burhanuddin Raz-i-Ilahi (the famous Saint/Pir (Persian: پیر)) of the Shattar order in Burhanpur, who had, amongst others, Emperor Aurangzeb as his disciple), Barrister-at-Law (Lincoln's Inn) and a graduate in Law from Bombay University (British India) in 1945, Senior Advocate Supreme Court, is widely regarded as Pakistan's leading jurist and constitutional expert with an iconic status. He is also considered an authority on the Pakistan independence movement.

Sharifuddin Pirzada has served a variety of senior government posts in his long and distinguished career. Until recently (March 2008) served as Honorary Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Law, Justice and Human Rights with the status of Senior Federal Minister.

His immense legal skills have widely been in demand ranging from the civil society (and the judiciary) to the leaders of Pakistan Examples of cases where he represented civil society in obtaining favorable decisions from the courts include Mawlvi Tamizuddin's case, Margalla Towers' case, Asma Jilani's case and Al-Jihad Trust's [AKA Judges] case. Various leaders of Pakistan (Zia-ul-Haq, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Pervez Musharraf) have also turned to him when confronted with serious legal challenges to get the courts to rule in their favor. Examples of these being Begum Nusrat Bhutto's Case, Khawja Tariq Rahim's Case, Pir Sabir Shah's Case, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah's appointment case, and Syed Zafar Ali Shah's Case.

Early career

• Honorary Secretary to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 1941-1944.
• Secretary Bombay City Muslim league, 1945-1947.
• In charge of the publicity campaign of the Bombay Muslim League during the general elections of 1946..
• Managing Editor of The Morning Herald (an English-language daily newspaper in Bombay) in 1947.
• Participated in the Pakistan Movement in various capacities.
• Advisor to the Constitution Commission of Pakistan 1961.
• Member of International Rivers Committee of the International law Association 1961-1968.
• Chairman, Company Law Commission 1962.
• President Karachi High Court bar Association 1964.
• President International Law Association, Pakistan branch 1964-1967.

Senior Posts with the Government of Pakistan

• Attorney General of Pakistan from 1965-1966. The youngest person ever to be appointed to that post and the longest serving.
• Foreign Minister of Pakistan from 1966-1968.
• Represented Pakistan in the Commonwealth Head of Government Conference in 1966.
• Moved Resolution 2253 of the United Nations General Assembly on the “status of Jerusalem” in 1967.
• Attorney General of Pakistan from 1968-1971.
• Represented Pakistan in the Commonwealth Law Ministers and Attorney Generals Conference 1971.
• President Afro-Asian Legal Consultative Committee, 1969.
• Attorney general for Pakistan from 1977-1985.
• Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs from 1979-1985.
• Caretaker Foreign Minister of Pakistan 1993.
• Appointed Honorary Roving Ambassador (with the status of Federal Minister) from 1995 –Current.
• Honorary Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive (CE) and Member (ex-officio) of the National Security Council of Pakistan (NSC) from 1999-2008.
• Honorary Senior Adviser to the Chief Executive (CE) on Foreign Affairs, Law, Justice and Human Rights (with the status of Senior Federal Minister) from 2002-2008.

Association with the Organization of Islamic Conference

(OIC is the largest International Organization after the the UN)

• Chairman of the Experts' Group for drafting the statue of the Islamic International Court of Justice.
• Served (elected unanimously) as Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference 1985-1988. (This is the highest post that any Pakistani has served in at any international organization)
• Member of Committee of Eminent Jurists to review the OIC Charter 2007.

Represented Pakistan before various International Forums and Tribunals including

• Rann of Kutch Case 1965.
• Counsel in the reference regarding Namibia (before the International Court of Justice) 1970.
• Pakistan’s complaint against India in the matter of overflights at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 1971.
• Appointed Judge (ad hoc) International Court of Justice 2000, making him only the second Pakistani to serve there.

Association with the U.N. (United Nations)

• Member United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 1972-1979 (Served as Chairman from 1977-1978).
• Chairman, Investigation and Working Group of Complaints of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 1978-1979.
• Leader of the Pakistani delegation to the Law of Sea Conference 1978-1980.
• Elected (by the UN General Assembly) to the International Law Commission, 1981-1986.
• Leader of Pakistani Delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission, 1995.

Awards

• Awarded Nishan-i-Imtiaz in 1998

Publications

• Pakistan at a Glance, Bombay 1941.
• Jinnah on Pakistan, Bombay 1943.
• Leaders Correspondence with Jinnah.
• Evolution of Pakistan, Karachi 1962 (also published in Urdu and Arabic).
• Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies in Pakistan, Lahore 1966.
• The Pakistan Resolution and the historic Lahore Session. Islamabad 1970.
• Foundation of Pakistan (3 Volumes), 1971.
• Some Aspects of Quaid-i-Azam’s Life 1978.
• Collected Works of Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah (3 Volumes).
• Dissolution of Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Karachi 1985.
• Murder of General Musharaf 2008

External links

• http://www.pirzada.com