KARACHI, Oct 4: Lawyers and judges paid tributes to their departed colleagues in a full court reference on Tuesday. The deceased lawyers whose services to the profession were recalled and praised at the reference were: Justice Z.A. Channa, Syed Safdar Hussain Fani, Muhammad Ayaz Khan, Qais Masood Rasheedi, Muhammad Yousuf Nadeem, Abdul Qadir Siddiqui, Imtiaz Ahmed Lari, M.L. Shahani, Mohammad Rafat Osmani, N.K. Jatoi, Abid T. Japanwala, Muhammad Anis, S. Izhar Haider Rizvi, Abdul Majeed Khan, Zamarrud Hasan Jafri, Faizanul Haq and Naseemudin Qamar.

The reference was addressed by Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, Sindh High Court Bar Association President Akhtar Hussain, Sindh Bar Council Vice-Chairperson Noor Naz Agha, Karachi Bar Association Secretary Khalid Mumtaz, Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui and Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan.

Reading out his speech in Urdu, the SHCBA president deplored that the language had not been given a national or official status despite a lapse of 58 years. Urdu, he emphasized, was the lingua franca of Pakistan which was understood throughout the length and breadth of the country but our ruling elite remained sceptic about its use as official language because of its indifference to the aspirations of people.

About the delay in holding a reference, he said the main reason was non-availability of biographical sketches of the deceased lawyers. As the host, he said, the SHCBA was conscious that all the departed colleagues might not get their due share of homage because of their lumping together. Some of them expired before the induction of the association’s incumbent executive, he said.