Yahya Bakhtiar ( ur, ) was a Pakistani lawyer and politician who served as the

Attorney General of Pakistan The Attorney-General for Pakistan is the chief law officer and legal advisor of the Government of Pakistan and enjoys rights of audience before Parliament. The Attorney-General, who serves as Pakistan's public prosecutor, is nominated by the Prime ...

. Yahya was born in 1921 at

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Yahya Bakhtiar died on June 27, 2003 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 cap ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

.Yahya Bakhtiar dies
Yahya Bakhtiar article on

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

newspaper, Published 28 June 2003, Retrieved 17 October 2016

Education

Born into

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

family, Yahya Bakhtiar studied at schools in

and

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. ...

. He studied

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He became a member of the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...

in 1941.

Career

Yahya Bakhtiar, as the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, played a key role in framing of the 1973

Constitution of Pakistan The Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's Pakistani political parties, opposition ...

when he served in Prime Minister

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and Politician, statesman who served as ...

's cabinet. His biggest contribution was cross-examination of

Mirza Nasir Ahmad Hāfiz Mirza Nasir Ahmad ( ur, ) (16 November 1909 – 9 June 1982) was the third caliph ( ar, خليفة المسيح الثالث, ''khalīfatul masīh al-Thālith''), head of the Ahmadiyya Community. He was elected as the third successor o ...

, leader of the

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...

group in front of the parliament committee, who voluntarily appeared to record his party's point of view on the motion to declare Ahmadiyya as non-muslim. This resulted in the Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, that became a part of the

on September 7, 1974 under the Government of Prime Minister

. It declared that Ahmadis were not Muslims. In 1974, he also joined the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

after leaving the

Council Muslim League The Council Muslim League was a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League that divided from the Convention Muslim League that was supportive of the military regime of the President of Pakistan Gen. Ayub Khan. Sardar Muhammad Zafarullah, Mian Mumtaz ...

. Yahya Bakhtiar became well known in Pakistan when he defended the former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in court trial against the

Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

government starting on 24 October 1977, but Bhutto was sentenced to death on 18 March 1978 and then actually hanged on 4 April 1979. This hanging of a democratically elected prime minister was called a 'judicial murder' by many people in Pakistan.http://nation.com.pk/Politics/12-Apr-2011/ZAB-judicially-murdered-exAG, Yahya Bakhtiar on team of attorneys to defend Bhutto in court,

The Nation (Pakistan) ''The Nation'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Majid Nizami Trust and based in Lahore, Pakistan since 1986. ''Rameeza'' is the Executive Editor of ''The Nation''. She is the adopted daughter of the renowned Pakistani journalist, ...

newspaper, Published 12 April 2011, Retrieved 17 October 2016 Bakhtiar was elected as a member of

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, Romanization, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower house, lower legislative house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which al ...

from the

- Pishin constituency in 1977. Yahya was also appointed to the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly makes up the Parliament of Pakista ...

. He was appointed

again when

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

became

in 1988. He also represented

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

in 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 ...

when then

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan ( ur, غلام اسحاق خان; 20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), was a Pakistani bureaucrat who served as the seventh president of Pakistan, elected in 1988 following Zia's death until his resignation in 1993. He wa ...

dissolved the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

by using his powers under Article 58(2)(B).

Family and survivors

Yahya Bakhtiar was married to Eva Bakhtiar and had two sons and two daughters, including actress

Zeba Bakhtiar Zeba Bakhtiar ( ur, ; born 5 November 1962) is a Pakistani film/TV actress and a television director. She is known for her TV drama ''Anarkali'' (1988), the Bollywood romantic drama ''Henna'' (1991), and the Lollywood movie, '' Sargam'' (1995 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakhtiar, Yahya Attorneys General of Pakistan 1921 births 2003 deaths People from Quetta All India Muslim League members Pakistan People's Party politicians Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan Members of the Senate of Pakistan Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom