LAHORE: Raza Kazim, one of old Lahore’s leading legal mind with 70 years at the bar, a renown sub-continental classical music scholar, inventor of the ‘Sagar Veena’, and a leading freedom fighter in his youth, died in Lahore on Thursday morning. He was 96 years old.
A political activist, philosopher and an inventor, he was a part of the Indian Congress movement. Pandit Nehru declared him “India’s most intelligent young freedom fighter”. Subsequently he was involved with the Muslim League working for an independent Pakistan and advising Mr Jinnah that a secular approach would win the day. Jinnah followed his advice. He later became a member of the Pakistan Communist Party and was General Secretary of the Pakistan Trade Union Federation and President of the Democratic Students Federation. Twice in the Ayub Khan days and the ZA Bhutto days, he was jailed, apparently for refusing to join their governments as minister.
During the regime of Gen Ziaul Haq, he spent nearly two years in solitary confinement for trumped up charges of waging war against the State and sedition. He was acquitted of all charges by the Special Military Tribunal hearing his case. His law practice was established in 1954 and harkens back to a tradition of advocacy tracing its roots to the 1800’s, to the erstwhile ‘Oudh’ region. Raza was a mentor to numerous leading advocates and eminent Judges of the Superior Courts. A show-stopping orator and ruthless cross examiner, Raza Kazim cultivated a reputation for serving an exclusive clientele faced with the most serious and complex of problems.
Internationally, he was counsel and arbitrator in international arbitration proceedings in London and Paris. He then set up a legal practice with a group of Lebanese lawyers. He also taught at a number of British universities. Once there was a procession against his describing “Zionism was worse than Nazism” in a lecture. He stuck to his description challenging anyone to argue with him in a classroom environment.
He was lead counsel for the petitioner before the Supreme Court, in arguably the most high-value dispute in the history of Pakistan: The Reko Diq Copper and Gold Mines case. The entire contract was declared null and void by the Supreme Court.
He represented members of the Superior Judiciary in proceedings before the Supreme Court and the Supreme Judicial Council. These include proceedings arising out of fresh oaths taken by certain High Court Judges under the Provisional Constitutional Order of 2007 promulgated during the rule of Gen Musharraf.
From 1991 to 2012, Raza was lead counsel for the liquidators of the collapsed BCCI in Pakistan. It was the world’s biggest liquidation at the time and recovered $8.5 billion to pay creditors. Raza Kasim was buried in a graveyard on Zafar Ali Road just near his residence.
