History will remember Justice Murshed

"I sometimes hold in half a sin,
To put into words the guilt I feel
For words like nature half reveal
And half conceal the soul within".

I heard the late Justice Murshed recite these lines of Alfred Lord Tennyson quoted above on an occasion when he suffered a personal bereavement. Yet today, after four decades of Murshed's death, I find this verse still haunts me. It is difficult for me to put into words the feelings evoked by these lines and the memory of the extraordinarily brilliant man with whom I associate them.
Syed Mahbub Murshed was undoubtedly among the most striking public figures on our national scene. Born in 1911, in perhaps the most distinguished families of Muslim Bengal, he had showed signs of his vastly talented abilities from an early age. The late playwright and litterateur Prof Nural Momen, recalls in his essay the Precocity on the youthful Murshed in his Presidency College days at Calcutta. The great expectations he had aroused among his contemporaries stated by late Dr Nobo Gopal Das ICS from his student days were subsequently materialised.
After a brilliant academic career both in the subcontinent and England,. Syed Mahbub Murshed began his life career as a lawyer in the late thirties of the last century, when he soon made his mark in the Calcutta Bar. His attachment to the Bar and to members of the legal profession lasted till the end of his days. Later on in life, while serving as a Chief Justice in the bench, he would talk nostalgically about the Bar. "The Bar" he said is my professional home, a place where I shall continually return; even when I am dead my disembodied soul will hover around the precents of the Bar." His affection for people of his profession was deep. During his farewell speech from the bench after his premature retirement or resignation as Chief Justice, Murshed concluded his speech by stating "I salute you - you who were my erstwhile comrades, the members of the Bar."
In the later period of 1954, Mahbub Murshed was elevated to the bench of the High Court of the Eastern wing at Dhaka. As a judge, Justice Murshed remained committed to his lifelong ideals of liberty, justice and excellence. His Judicial pronouncements, delivered as a High Court Judge and briefly in the Supreme Court and then as Chief Justice, clearly reflected these ideals. Some of Justice Murshed's judgements created constitutional history and not only won for him national fame but international acclaim. He will always be remembered in history for fearlessly upholding the rule of law. He remained an epitome of courage despite pressures from the highest quarters. As Chief Justice in a judgement he stated that "it is not the use but the abuse of Power that the Courts are meant to readdress." Hence, he will remain a Titan in the Judicial arena of South Asia for his landmark judgements.
I would like to point out some other examples of Murshed's manifold social, cultural and political activities. A master in oratory Murshed would hold his audience spellbound whether reading from written script or speaking extempore. Being a humanitarian all his life the famine that griped Bengal in the early forties of the last century and the communal riots in 1946 moved him to found the Anjuman Mofidul Islam. As a sitting Judge in the fifties he worked relentlessly as Chairman of the Red Cross. Murshed also fought for our cultural freedom as he organised Tagore Century all over in what is now Bangladesh, despite the obstacles he faced from the then Pakistani military leadership.
In the political arena Murshed will remain unparalleled. As a young Barrister in 1942 Murshed's article "Quo Vadis Quaid Quaid-e-Azam" criticising Mr Jinnah and defending his Uncle Mr Fazlul Haque that appeared in the Statesman of Calcutta created a stir in Bengal. After the partition of the sub-continent in 1947, Murshed was among the persons who put to motion the process that culminated in the Nehru-Liaquat pact. He was drawn into the vortex of the language movement and along with his uncle the Shera Bangla broke section 144 in 1952.
In early 1954, just before becoming a Judge Murshed along with his Abul Mansoor Ahmed drafted the Manifesto for the Jukta Front government led by his Uncle. Again it was these two that put the final varnish to the six points which Sheikh Mujib fought and was jailed for.
On his resignation as Chief Justice among the first thing Murshed did was to organise the defence of the Agartala Conspiracy case. It is mainly on account of him that Sk Mujib did not have to come out on parole and all others were set free unconditionally. Murshed's active participation in the mass upsurge in 1969 further earned him respect. It was his protest resignation as Chief Justice that made the public of both wings feel he was the only acceptable candidate to run against President Ayub.
The agitation that Justice Murshed created with the then High Court Bar on account of constitutional hiatus went to such an extreme height that no Judge was willing to undertake Gen Tikka Khan's oath, the Governor designate of then East Pakistan in March 1971.
Another significant matter was that during the Round Table Conference Justice Murshed demanded 'one man one vote'. Prior to this, in the National Assembly, there was a parity of 150 seats each for both the eastern and western wing. Since Murshed's one man one vote was accepted, the eastern wing got 169 out of 300 seat. Thus he paved the way that whoever won the majority in the eastern wing would form the national government.
I can only conclude by saying about him the same passage he said about his Uncle the Sher-e-Bangla, "In life and in death, he was a king without the trappings of a monarch, for he had built an empire in the hearts of his fellowmen."

K Sallahuddin is a retired official of Radio Bangladesh and a poet. He is also the Secretary of the Syed Mahbub Murshed memorial committee.