KARACHI: Renowned lawyer and former judge of Sindh High Court Rasheed A. Razvi passed away here on Saturday evening. He was 77.

Presently, he was serving as the chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners.

He was suffering from cancer for the last few years and admitted to a hospital in Clifton a couple of days ago.

He is survived by his widow, three sons and a daughter.

The funeral will be held at the Imambargah Yasrab in DHA, Phase IV after Zohrain on Sunday (today). He will be laid to rest in the DHA graveyard in Phase VIII.

Mr Razvi was born in 1947 in Bombay (now Mumbai) and later his family migrated to Karachi. He went to Karachi University for a master’s degree in economics. He got a law degree from Government Islamia College in early ‘70s and joined the legal profession.

In 1978, he established his own law firm ‘Rasheed Razvi & Associates’. However, it suspended its operation in 1993 when he was appointed as judge of the special banking court and subsequently elevated as a judge of the Sindh High Court in 1995.

He had refused to take oath under the first Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) issued by then military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Later, he had re-established his law firm and became very active in bar politics. He was elected the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association four times between 2001 and 2016 and had served as the vice chairman of the Sindh Bar Council.

He became Supreme Court Bar Association president in 2016 and was elected a member of the Pakistan Bar Council multiple times.

Mr Razvi played a key role in the 2007 lawyers’ movement for restoration of judiciary.

As a lawyer, Mr Razvi had pleaded a large number of cases related to human rights and labour issues as pro bono.

In recognition for his services, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research established the Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2024