Justice Murshed, a true patriot

With the passage of time, another birth anniversary day of perhaps one of the most distinguished departed sons of the country, has come once again. This person is not only remembered and revered but among the most distinguished in the annals of our national history. He is none other than Syed Mahbub Murshed (1911-1979), the late Chief Justice or Justice Murshed which is what most of us who knew him or know of him refer to him as.

Born a little after the first decade of the last century, Murshed remains a very prominent figure and the most striking personality, and his name and fame is spread to all sections across the country.

Along with his incomparable and notable heritage, he had also achieved very brilliant academic results both at home and abroad with high merit and distinctions all through his academic life and this culminated in his becoming a Barrister in England at the honorable society of Lincoln Inn in 1938.

In life, Justice Murshed rose to the eminence of the highest order as a jurist imbued with a deep sense of social justice. His contribution to the field of literature and belles-lettres was no less outstanding.

As a judge and later as Chief Justice he was a fearless exponent of the rule of law and for this admiration came from people of all walks of life, particularly, for his courage. Justice Murshed choose never to yield even to the highest provocation.

"Murshed's judicial pronouncements, while sifting at the bench of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan where he served as an ad-hoc judge, then as Chief Justice, reflected the lofty ideals of liberty, justice and excellence. Some of his judgments created constitutional history and became landmarks which won for him both national and international acclaim from the bench. His verdicts went against the Ayub-Monem dictatorship.

It will always be remembered as in 1961, he organised the "Tagore Centennial celebrations" at Dhaka and other parts of the country which is now our free Bangladesh and this was in defiance to the opposition put up by the then Pakistani rulers.

The fight for a separate identity became, through a process of metamorphosis, a battle for nationalism. The stirrings of a nation in the making in the late nineteen-fifties and sixties found eloquent expression and these were reflected in the manifold speeches, judgments' and writing of Justice Murshed. In this sphere, he became the most articulate spokesman of Bengali nationalism.

During the famine in 1943, and later the communal riots in1946, Murshed worked actively founding the 'Anjuman Mofidul Islam.'

Remaining the humanist that he was in the late fifties and early sixties of the last century, he was the President of the Red Cross. Deep down, Murshed was a liberal muslim and spoke of tolerance which was against any form of communalism. Further again, when the communal violence shook the sub-continent in the partition year, he was one of those men who were primarily responsible for setting into motion the process that culminated in the Liakat - Nehru pact. Murshed was also drawn to the vortex of the language movement in the early fifties.

In addition to his monumental work, another significant contribution by then Chief Justice Murshed was that he gave final touch to the drafting of the historic six points in 1966 for provincial autonomy which was the demand of Bengali intelligentsia. This was what Sheikh Mujib fought for.

In early 1954, when he was still a practising lawyer, he was among those who drafted the 21 point manifesto of the Juktha-front government and this was summarised by Justice Murshed as the famous six points.

At a critical time in our history while the country was sensing a victory for autocracy with President Field Marshal Ayub Khan about to celebrate his so called decade of reforms and the Agartala conpiracy case was being formed, Murshed resigned from the post of Chief Justice to join the masses for the fight for democracy.

Among the first things, that he did was to help to organise the defence of the Agartala Conspiracy case, and subsequent to this Murshed entered politics directly, which added the major momentum to the anti-Ayub movement. It was because of Murshed who was leading the charge during the mass upsurge while others were goaled that Sheikh Mujib was not released on parole.

Not only that but it was on account of Murshed constant public demands that all the co-accused in the Agartala conspiracy case were unconditionally released and exonerated.

Perhaps what is most significant was that during the round-table conference while Ayub was virtually on his knees and in addition, with the dissolution of the one unit in West Pakistan, Justice Murshed demanded one man one vote. Prior to this, in the then Pakistan National Assembly, there was parity of 150 seats each for East and West Pakistan. But Murshed's one man one vote proposal was accepted and because of this, 169 seats out of 300 came to East Pakistan for the next national election.

It was also Murshed's heroic resignation in the late sixties as chief justice that made the intelligentsia to consider him as the only acceptable candidate in the whole country against Ayub, in the President election.

During the country's war of liberation, his refusal to collaborate with the ruling military-junta is also recorded by historians. Hence, in fact it can be said that Justice Murshed is among the founding fathers of Bengali nationalism and a keeper of our national conscience.

In conclusion, history will always remember Justice Murshed as this nation's friend, philosopher and guide.

Barrister Tamij is practicing lawyer with Chambers at London and a researcher on Justice Murshed