KARACHI, April 15: Former senator Pir Syed Hussain Shah Rashdi passed away on Sunday morning after a massive heart attack. He was 69.

Mr Rashdi was laid to rest after Maghrib prayers in the Mewashah graveyard. He leaves behind his wife, a son, Syed Ali Raza, and three daughters.

A legal expert and practising lawyer, Mr Rashdi belonged to a respected literary and spiritual family of Sindh. He was born on Jan 15, 1938, in Larkana district’s Bahman village.

After graduating from the Sindh Muslim Arts College, Karachi, Mr Rashdi joined the S. M. Law College, Karachi, and did his LLB in 1963.

He had an outstanding career and was known for his expertise in constitutional and criminal laws.

He also served as legal consultant to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Hussain Shah Rashdi in-herited the intellectual attributes and interest in literary, journalistic and socio-cultural fields of his late father Pir Ali Mohammad Rashdi and late uncle Pir Hussamuddin Rashdi.

It was his initiative and special interest in people’s welfare, particularly of the downtrodden and not-so-fortunate, that made him popular among his colleagues in the profession.

He was also an articulate speaker, a freelance columnist until recently he was hosting a programme for Sindh TV on the legends of Sindh.

He represented a number of legal, educational and cultural organisations and served as the vice-president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association and chairman of the Sindhi Adabi Board.

He also represented Pakistan at a Unesco conference on education held in Manila in 1960, and at the 44th session of the UN General Assembly in New York in 1989.

He was elected to the Senate in March, 1994, and was a member of Senate’s standing committees on information and broadcasting, education and scientific and technological research, and law, justice and parliamentary affairs.