Iqbal Haider ( ur, اقبال حیدر; 14 January 1945 – 11 November 2012) was a Senior Advocate of the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

and the co-chairperson of the

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ) (HRCP) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country. HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting a ...

("HRCP"). He was also a Senator, Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs from November 1993 to December 1994, Pakistan's first Federal Minister for Human Rights and Attorney General.

Life and education

Haider was born on 14 January 1945 in

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

in pre-partition India (

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

). He migrated to Pakistan with his family and got his early education in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

. He earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Commerce from the Government College of Commerce & Economics, Karachi in 1964, and an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the Punjab University Law College,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

in 1966, where he was Secretary of the Debating Society, Vice-chairman of the Cultural Society of the Punjab University Students Union. In 1967, Haider was admitted to the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, where he became the vice-president of the Students Union of Lincoln's Inn. Haider died peacefully due to Coronary respiratory failure on 11 November 2012 in a

hospital.

Professional career

Haider was first enrolled as an advocate for the subordinate courts in June 1967. He has practiced law in different courts of the country, including the High Courts, since 1972, and in the

since 1978. He has been member of the Executive Board/Committees of a number of organisations, including Pakistan Institute of International Affairs and the Sindh Red Crescent Society, and a Trustee of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Sports Foundation. He is also a member of the Bar Associations of the Sindh and Lahore High Courts.

Political career

Haider has, since early in his career, been an outspoken critic of the involvement of the Army in the political affairs of Pakistan. He was a founding member of the

Movement for Restoration of Democracy The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) ( ur, اتحاد برائے بحالی جمہوریت), was a historically left-wing populism and massive socialist political alliance formed to oppose and end the military government of Preside ...

("MRD") and one of the main organizers of its Mass Movement, launched in 1983, for removal of Martial Law and Restoration of Democracy. He was the Central Acting Convener, Acting Central Secretary General and Acting Joint Secretary of the MRD. From 1981 to 1986, he was detained at least ten times by the Martial Law authorities. Haider was President of the Karachi Division of Qaumi Mahaz-e-Azadi (QMA) from 1977 to 1982, and Secretary General of QMA from 1983 to 1988. Haider later joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), where he was appointed the Advisor to the Chief Minister Sindh from January 1989 to February 1990. He was the President of the PPP Karachi Division, vice-president of PPP Sindh, and member of the Central Executive Committee of the PPP. On 22 March 2005, Haider resigned from the PPP to pursue his human rights interests.

Human rights

Haider's passion was

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. He has done work for victims of

honour killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...

(e.g.

Samia Sarwar Samia Sarwar (1970 – 6 April 1999) was a Pakistani woman, who was shot dead in her lawyers' office in Lahore in an "honour killing." Samia Sarwar was a married woman with two children, belonging to an affluent family of Peshawar. She claimed to ...

karo-kari Honour killings in Pakistan are known locally as ''karo-kari'' ( ur, ). Pakistan currently have the top number of documented and estimated honour killings per capita of any country in the world; about 1/5 of the world's honour killings are comm ...

bonded labour Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, the pe ...

, and

missing persons A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

, amongst others. He founded the Human Rights Ministry during the second tenure of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and became the first Human Rights minister of Pakistan. He sat in the Senate Committee on Human Rights, was one of the founding members of the HRCP, and continues to pursue human rights causes in Pakistan. He drafted and tabled the first ever bill on Honour Killing. His recent activities included launching a strong campaign against the government and

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

(ISI) in relation to missing persons and formation of 'The Forum for Secular Pakistan' to counter the narrative of religious and sectarian hate and violence.

References

Sources

*http://www.hrcp-web.org/new_chairperson.cfm *http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-3-2005_pg7_5 *http://www.senate.gov.pk/ShowMemberDetail.asp?MemberCode=319&CatCode=0&CatName= *https://web.archive.org/web/20060306041610/http://www.dawn.com/2005/03/22/local19.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Haider, Syed Iqbal Pakistan People's Party politicians 1945 births Muhajir people Pakistani democracy activists Pakistani human rights activists Pakistani lawyers Punjab University Law College alumni 2012 deaths Members of the Senate of Pakistan Deaths from respiratory failure Lawyers from Karachi