Akhtar Hussain (lawyer)

Akhtar Hussain
اختر حسین
President of Awami Workers Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
2023[1]
Preceded byYousuf Mustikhan
Personal details
Born
Akhtar Hussain

(1946-02-02) 2 February 1946 (age 78)
NationalityPakistani
OccupationLawyer, Senior advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan
Known forPresident Awami Workers Party[2]

Akhtar Hussain (Urdu:اختر حسین, born 2 February 1946) is a Pakistani lawyer, senior advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan[3][4] and left wing political leader.[5][6] He is president of the left-wing political party, Awami Workers Party.[2] He served as the General Secretary of Awami Workers Party from 2016 to 2022.[7] He stayed member of Pakistan Bar Council for ten years from 2010 to 2020 and elected as Vice Chairman in 2012.[8] He was a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan for two years from 2019 to 2021.[9]

Early life and education

Akhtar Hussain was born on 2 February 1946 in a farming family in the small village of Khai Kaliya in Jhelum District. He received his early education from the village’s primary school and got admission the fifth standard in the nearby town of Sanghui, Jhelum. He passed his matriculation from the same school in 1961. He completed Bachelors in Commerce (B.Com.) in 1969 and Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) in 1972 from Islamia College, Karachi.

Career

Hussain is a lawyer by profession.[10] He started practicing law in Karachi in 1973. He was elected as General Secretary of Karachi Bar Association in 1985 and President of Sindh High Court Bar Association in 2005. He remained member of Sindh Bar Council from 1992 to 1998 and Vice Chairman in 1997.[11] He stayed member of Pakistan Bar Council for ten years from 2010 to 2020 and elected as Vice Chairman in 2012.[12][13][14][15] He was a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan for two years from 2019 to 2021.[16][17][18][19] He was the General Secretary of Democratic Lawyers Association of Pakistan and Deputy General Secretary of International Association of Democratic Lawyers , an international organization of left-wing lawyers.[20] As a student and after, he also participated in the works of Public Literary Association and Young Writers.

Political struggle

As a student, Hussain joined the National Students Federation (NSF) in the 1963 when he got admission in Islamia College, Karachi. In 1971, he was elected as the President of Islamia College’s Students Union and Vice President of NSF.[21] He started his practical politics with the National Awami Party, once it was banned, he was the Deputy General Secretary and Central Committee member of the National Democratic Party and Pakistan National Party Sindh. In 1967-77, together with Dr. M. R. Ihsan, Lal Bakhsh Rind other colleagues, he formed the Communist League. In 1988, he was the Deputy General Secretary of the Pakistan Workers Party which was formed by the merger of the Communist League and the Socialist Party headed by Mr. Abid Hasan Manto. In 1992, the Pakistan Workers Party, Qaumi Mahaaz Azadi, and the Qaumi Inqalabi Party merged to form the Awami Jamhoori Party. In 1999, the National Workers Party[22] was formed by the merger of Awami Jamhoori Party, Pakistan National Party and Pakistan Socialist Party (C.R Aslam), and in 2010, the Workers Party Pakistan was formed[23] by the merger of the National Workers Party and the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party respectively.

Hussain served as the General Secretary of Awami Jamhoori Party, Workers Party Pakistan[24] and later Awami Workers Party formed in 2012[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] by merger of Workers Party, Awami Party Pakistan and Labor Party Pakistan. In March 2022, he was elected as senior vice president of Awami Workers Party[35] but after the death of Yousuf Mustikhan in Sep 2022,[36] he was elected as president.[2] Hussain was incarcerated in the Central Prison Karachi in 1984, for struggle for democracy against Zia’s martial law and then again in 2007 for independence of the judiciary under Pervez Musharraf’s martial law.[22]

Publications

In 2021, Hussain published a book in Urdu: "Samaji Tabdeeli Ki Siyasat" (politics of social change).[37][38]

Citations/Sources

References

  1. ^ "List of Enlisted Political Parties" (PDF). www.ecp.gov.pk. Election Commission of Pakistan. 27 February 2023. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Speakers call for implementation of minimum wage, labour laws". DAWN.COM. 2 May 2024.
  3. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (10 July 2018). "Awami Workers Party unveils election manifesto". DAWN.COM.
  4. ^ "JCP member Akhtar Hussain urges vote taking before 'abrupt' end to meetings". www.geo.tv.
  5. ^ "Eight-party Left Alliance demands immediate release of all political prisoners". Daily Times. 25 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Awami Workers Party presents 10-point agenda". www.thenews.com.pk.
  7. ^ "'AWP only force struggling for rights of the working class'". www.thenews.com.pk.
  8. ^ "Judges' appointment: Lawyers demand transparent mechanism". The Express Tribune. 24 February 2012.
  9. ^ "Reference against Justice Faez Isa, Justice KK Agha: PBC backs lawyers' protest on June 14". www.thenews.com.pk.
  10. ^ "SHC restrains ITNE from coercive measures". DAWN.COM. 26 April 2006.
  11. ^ "WORLD: Arrested Lawyers of Pakistan's democratic movement need international support now". Asian Human Rights Commission.
  12. ^ "Justice Ayesha's nomination: acting CJP sought mention of dissenters' names". News Box. 15 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Justice Ayesha's Nomination: Let The Record Show Who Stood For Women Rights, Says Justice Bandial". The Friday Times - Naya Daur. 15 September 2021.
  14. ^ Iqbal, Nasir (3 August 2021). "CJP was all praise for Justice Mazhar at JCP meeting". DAWN.COM.
  15. ^ Iqbal, Nasir (15 September 2021). "Justice Ayesha's nomination: Acting CJP sought mention of dissenters' names". DAWN.COM.
  16. ^ Report, Recorder (28 July 2021). "PBC nominates Akhtar Hussain for JCP". Brecorder.
  17. ^ "PBC nominates Akhtar Hussain as JCP member". Latest News - The Nation.
  18. ^ Bhatti, Haseeb (5 August 2022). "Judges nomination: JCP member writes to CJP seeking amendments in Judicial Commission rules". DAWN.COM.
  19. ^ "JCP to consider elevation of SHC judge to SC on 28th". www.thenews.com.pk.
  20. ^ "Officers and Bureau Members". International Association of Democratic Lawyers. 29 November 2015.
  21. ^ "Red shirts: Remembering Pakistan's Che Guevara 51 years later". The Express Tribune. 14 November 2011.
  22. ^ a b "Arrests of progressive leaders, workers condemned". DAWN.COM. 14 November 2007.
  23. ^ "Leftward Ho!". Newsline. 16 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Workers Party Pakistan".
  25. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (28 November 2016). "Communist leader Hasan Nasir remembered". DAWN.COM.
  26. ^ Hasan, Shazia (18 March 2017). "Women's struggle as peasants, workers & homemakers highlighted". DAWN.COM.
  27. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (9 October 2017). "Rights activist Naeem Shakir is no more". DAWN.COM.
  28. ^ Tahir, Minerwa (23 October 2017). "'Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan would not have witnessed the violence had USSR been there'". Samaa.
  29. ^ "AWP vows to resist anymove against democracy". www.thenews.com.pk.
  30. ^ "AWP condemns attack on private TV channel office". Daily Times. 1 June 2018.
  31. ^ "Rally protests against inflation, islands' usurpation, feudalism". www.thenews.com.pk.
  32. ^ "AWP pays tributes to veteran peasant leader Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad". www.thenews.com.pk.
  33. ^ "Adieu comrade Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad". The High Asia Herald. 27 May 2020.
  34. ^ Daur, Naya (12 May 2021). "AWP Demands Strict Action Against Malik Riaz, Bahria Town Over Karachi Evictions". Naya Daur.
  35. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (14 March 2022). "AWP vows to strive for socialist society". DAWN.COM.
  36. ^ Siddiqui, Tahir (30 September 2022). "Veteran leftist Yousuf Mustikhan passes away". DAWN.COM.
  37. ^ "Advocate Akhtar Hussain unveils book 'Samaji Tabdeeli Ki Siyasat' Arts Council". Biz Today. 14 November 2021.
  38. ^ "Launch Of The Book "Samaji Tabdeeli Ki Siyasat"".