KARACHI: Advocate Abdul Hafeez Lakho, a close friend and counsel of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the murder case of a former Sindh advocate general, died on Saturday after a protracted illness.

All legal proceedings at the Sindh High Court and district courts were suspended on account of the demise of the veteran lawyer on the call of the lawyers’ representative bodies, including Sindh High Court Bar Association and Karachi Bar Association.

He was laid to rest at a local graveyard in the Defence Housing Authority after his funeral prayers were offered at Masjid Sultan after Zohr.

A large number of people including former chief justices of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah and Anwar Zaheer Jamali, former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, former Sindh governor Kamal Azfar, former chief justice of Federal Shariat Court Agha Rafique Ahmed, former Senate chairman Farooq H. Naek, President of Sindh High Court Bar Association Shahab Sarki, Rashid Rabbani and Munawwar Abbasi, attended the funeral prayers.

Mr Lakho, who also served as the chief provincial law officer, was the counsel of Mr Bhutto in the murder case of former advocate general Sindh Nawab Mohammed Khan.

His son, Mubeen Lakho, is also a lawyer at the Sindh High Court.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2017