KOHAT, Oct 17: The government has been urged to construct a tomb and a library at the grave of former Chief Justice West Pakistan High Court Mohammed Rustam Kiyani.

Notables of Kohat and relatives of M.R. Kiyani made the demand here on Wednesday on the eve of the judge’s 105th birth anniversary.

His grandson Shafiur Rehman Kiyani told Dawn: “I appeal to the government to construct a tomb and a library here in the graveyard in recognition of rendered by Mr Kiyani numerous sacrifices for democracy. People will come here and benefit from a public library.”

After years of neglect, the gravestone has broken down and the eulogy written on it has turned black.

Justice M.R. Kiyani was a pioneer of the movement for independence of judiciary.

He had openly challenged the writ of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan during his service.

He used to travel the length and breadth of East and West Pakistan to address audiences comprising mostly of officers, lawyers and judges where he openly criticised the rulers.

Prof. Shujaat Ali Rahi, educationist who had a chance to invite the judge to Cadet College Kohat, said: “The chief justice was popular among the elite and the common alike.”

He died on November 15, 1962, in Chittagong.

Compilations of his speeches are available in books titled The Whole Truth, A Judge May Laugh, Half Truths, Some More Truth, Afkar-i-Pareshan and Maktoob-i-Kiyani.

In one of his speeches, Mr Kiyani had said: “A government like this is not more than an excuse for the people abroad and in Pakistan it is accepted as a burden which should not exist even for a day.”