Political leaders from various parties, including President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Zardari, on Wednesday expressed grief over the demise of prominent advocate and author of the 1973 Constitution, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, who passed away in London on Tuesday night.
Hafeez Pirzada had been hospitalised in London for over a month for an intestine surgery. That surgery resulted in medical complications leading to organ failure and ultimately his demise. Hafeez, 80, is survived by two sons, two daughters and a wife.
Pirzada was a barrister and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. He was a third generation barrister from Lincoln’s Inn. He began practicing in the then West Pakistan High Court in 1957, joining the Chambers of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
In 1959, Pirzada established law chambers in Karachi and was enrolled in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1962. Thereafter, in 1979 he signed the roll of senior Advocates of the Supreme Court.
From 1971 to 1977 Pirzada was a member of parliament and remained a senior cabinet minister in Bhutto’s government, holding several important portfolios including those of finance, law and parliamentary affairs, federal provincial coordination and education.
In 1972 he was elected as chairman of the constitution committee of parliament to frame a new constitution for the country. Subsequently, he was the author of the 1973 Constitution which was piloted by him as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and passed by the Parliament unanimously.
He was considered a leading expert in the field of constitutional and administrative law and was also a member of the Pakistan Law Commission, a statutory body formed for the purposes of reviewing and overhauling the laws of Pakistan. His company, Hafeez Pirzada Law Associates, is listed in the Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Chambers Global.
