KARACHI: Friends and admirers shared their memories of Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, who passed away on Jan 7, at an event held in his memory at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House on Friday evening.

Dean of Social Sciences and Education, Szabist, Dr Riaz Shaikh began his speech by lamenting that not even 20 people could come to the condolence reference of a person who dedicated his life to raising his voice for human rights and freedom of expression.

He said when he was working on a book about DSF, Fakhru bhai (as the late jurist was fondly known) was his most important source of information. He wasn’t just a lawyer; he had a heart of gold. When as a young man he returned from England after completing his law studies, he started working with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. One of the cases that he took to work on was to do with the DSF students — Dr Adib, Dr Sarwar etc, — and the revolutionary leader Hasan Nasir who had then gone underground. Fakhru bhai’s community (Bohra) tried to put pressure on him [dissuaded him] about the kind of cases he was taking as a lawyer.

Dr Shaikh said as a judge there shouldn’t be any doubt that Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, Justice Dorab Patel and Justice A.R. Cornelius belonged to the same group of courageous people. His other important role came to the fore when he became governor of Sindh. He did a lot of great work, such as the formation of the Citizens-Police Liaison Comm­ittee. Then his position as the chief election commissioner of Pakistan is also important. After the 18th Amendment was passed, it happened for the first time that the commission’s chief was appointed with consensus and no political party had any objection to his commitment or integrity. Subsequently, the late judge wanted electoral reforms in the country but the political parties had a big role to play in making his wish come true. It didn’t happen.

Habibuddin Junaidi also lauded the fact that Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim did well in whatever capacity he worked. He quoted Ghalib’s couplet to describe his feelings:

Sub kahan kuch laala-o-gul mein numayan ho gae’in
Khaak mein kiya suratein hongi ke pinhaan ho gae’in
[All is not revealed in tulips and roses
There are many faces that remain hidden in the dust]

Mr Junaidi took issue with Dr Shaikh’s point that not many people had turned up for the condolence reference. He said we need to see where society is headed in terms of thoughts and ideas (soch ke aitbaar se); in that context those who had showed up at the PMA House belonged to that segment of society who thinks about issues.

Journalist Zofeen T. Ebrahim, who is the daughter-in-law of Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, shared some personal stories. She said she had a 33-year relationship with him. She belongs to Lahore. When she got engaged to his son, Fakhru bhai couldn’t come to Lahore to attend the engagement ceremony. But the next week he came especially to meet her. He was a shy person.

Ms Ebrahim said she’s not a particularly good cook, but her father-in-law would always encourage her and praise her cooking. She added that he was a softie. He liked simple food. He had no airs, no attitude issues. He would talk to everyone with a great deal of humility. Recently, their gardener came to her and said people such as Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim don’t exist anymore, despite the fact that he didn’t get to meet him often.

Dr Ghafoor Shoro, Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Mirza Ali Azhar, Comrade Mohammad Ali, Nargis Rehman and Dr Shahid Shamim also spoke.

Dr Wasiq Qazi anchored the programme. Dr Jaipal delivered the vote of thanks.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2020