Syed Muhammad Zafar

Syed Muhammad Zafar (سید محمد ظفر; 6 December 1930 – 19 October 2023) was a Pakistani human rights activist, lawyer (Senior Advocate Supreme Court), and politician who was a member of the Senate of Pakistan. For some time, he was affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PMLQ).

Early life
Syed Muhammad Zafar was born on 6 December 1930 in Rangoon, Burma, where his father worked in the construction business. His family hailed from the town of Shakargarh in Punjab. Following the Japanese occupation of Burma, his family returned to their native village in 1944.

Career
Zafar began his career as a lawyer in the 1950s. He played an important role during the 1958 imposition of martial law in Pakistan and again in forcing amendments to Constitution of Pakistan of 1962, which at first did not have sufficient protections for basic human rights.

After serving as a judge of the high court and as Pakistan's Minister for Law and Justice from 1965 to 1969, Zafar retired from the government in 1968 and started his own law practice.

Zafar and a few of his contemporaries founded the Human Rights Society of Pakistan in 1976.

Zafar was awarded an honorary PhD degree in law at the University of the Punjab's 124th convocation. He retired from active law practice in 2012.

In 2018, he quit politics and parted ways with the PMLQ party.

Official posts

 * Federal Minister for Law and Justice (Pakistan) (1965–69)
 * President High Court Bar Association, Lahore (1975)
 * President, Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association (1979)
 * Chairman, Human Rights Society of Pakistan
 * Chairman, Cultural Association of Pakistan
 * Chancellor of Hamdard University

News media commentator
After retirement from his official government service in 1968, he was a frequent commentator on current affairs in Pakistan.

Death
S. M. Zafar died on 19 October 2023, at the age of 92 in Lahore after a prolonged illness.