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TRIBUTE

My respected senior

Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman
WHEN I met Dr. Zahir for the first time in 2004, I was fascinated by his good looks and his flamboyant personality. He interviewed me and took me as an intern. I have never seen a person more devoted to work than Dr. Zahir. He believed in and preached Benjamin Franklin’s age-old saying: "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today." He used another saying when we dithered in something: "Unless you start you will never finish." I have taken this
advice for my journey in life, and it has been of enormous practical help to me.
He was a compassionate and kind-hearted man. He treated his juniors with due deference, and rewarded us generously. He treated everybody with respect, not only his fellow lawyers, irrespective of his or her social status. He mocked the prevalent social customs by referring to George Orwell's Animal Firm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Honesty and diligence were Dr. Zahir's hallmark. While addressing the court he never concealed facts or precepts of law in order to achieve immediate success, unlike most lawyers. He never gave his clients hope of success, even if it was a case with merits. He used to underline mostly the adverse aspects of litigation, and discouraged people from going to court. "Do not go for lawsuits," he used to say. "You will get thirty six wounds (mamla chule atharo gha); your lawyers will get richer and you will get poorer." What amazed me most was that he was so quick in grasping complicated legal problems that he would accept senior briefs while walking in the corridor of the court, and would march into the courtroom and instantly deliver lucid arguments on the subject!
He was born at Bhabanipur in Calcutta on May 22, 1939. His father, Justice Muhammad Asir, was a lawyer in Calcutta High Court and later a judge in Dhaka High Court. Because of his father's eminence Dr. 2^hir had the opportunity from his childhood to come in touch with eminent lawyers/politicians like Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Before he succumbed to multiple myeloma in December 2011, he was as fit as a fiddle.. "Two courts," he used to joke, "attract me most: the High Court and the tennis court." He could also play piano, guitar and organ, and sometimes sang old English and Bangla songs. He lived his life to the fullest. It is a pity that such a buoyant life would come to a sudden end like this.
When the news of his death broke on July 11, the world stopped for us, and for all lawyers and the honourable judges of the Supreme Court. Judges rose from their benches to pay their last tribute to this larger-than-life personality. Proceedings at both Divisions of the Supreme Court halted unprecedentedly.
The president, prime minister, speaker of the Parliament, leader of the opposition, chief justice, Supreme Court Bar Association, Bangladesh Bar Council, Law Reporters' Forum, senior lawyers and many people from across the country sent their condolences. His demise marked the end of an era in the legal domain. His absence will be acutely felt by all people involved with law. May Allah grant him eternal peace.
The writer Is a Barrister-at-Law and an associate of Dr. M Zahir & Associates.