“Down Memory Lane II”, the second in the autobiographical series of books authored by Abdul Muhib Mazumder, former Minister and Advocate General of Assam, was launched in presence of a host of dignitaries at the Guwahati Press Club on 29 July.
The book has been edited by Abdul Wadud Aman, a lawyer and civil rights activist and published by the Centre for Minority Studies, Research & Development (CMRD) Assam.
At the outset, a citation on behalf CMRD was presented to Mazumder by Anowar Hussain, working president while a sorai was handed over by Zamser Ali, general secretary of CMRD.
Mazumder addressed the audience on this occasion saying, “I am tempted to make an appeal to the readers to enter into a discussion on the subjects dealt with by me which have a pronounced effect on social restructuring of our polity.” He appealed to the legal fraternity, in particular, who were present at the event in good numbers, to take up the issues, discuss them, analyse them and suggest solutions acceptable to all sections of people and the polity to pave way for emergence of a resurgent Assam.
Harsh Mander, Director of the Centre for Equity Studies & Special Commissioner to the Supreme Court of India in the Right to Food case, was the chief guest. Along with other dignitaries on the dais, he released the book. In his address, Mander said that he was born in Shillong and has had a long association with the North East. He has been visiting the region regularly to bring succour to the victims of natural and man-made calamities. He appealed to the youth of the region to stand by the side of the oppressed and the persecuted and raise their voice whenever their human rights are violated.
Others who addressed the event included Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia, former Chief Justice of J&K High Court; Justice DN Choudhury, former Justice of Gauhati High Court; Prof Abdul Mannan of Gauhati University; Ram Chandra Saikia, President of the Gauhati High Court Bar and Chinmoy Choudhury, Advocate General of Assam.
Incidentally, except for Prof Abdul Mannan, all the above mentioned personalities were students of Mazumder when he taught law at Gauhati University and were his junior colleagues when they started practice at Gauhati High Court.
(Nurul Islam Laskar — nurul.laskar@gmail.com)
source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Community News / by Nurul Islam Laskar / August 29th, 2016
Nitaingar Village (Hailakandi) / Guwahati, ASSAM :
One of the reputed lawyers from Assam, Makram Ali Laskar breathed his last on January 10. Veteran lawyer Makram Ali Laskar was not just a legal luminary; he was a great human being too.
Born in 1935 at Nitainagar village, Hailakandi in the then district of Cachar, Assam, Makram Ali Laskar had his early education at his village pathsala.
Laskar completed his Matriculation from Government Victoria Memorial High School, Hailakandi in 1952 and passed 10+2 from Gurucharan College, Silchar, in 1955. Laskar studied BA from Cotton College, Gauhati and then took his law degree from Gauhati University in 1962. Laskar also earned a Masters in Political Science from the same university.
Laskar joined the Gauhati High Court Bar as practicing lawyer and spend his time in researching and studying with Late Justice BL Hansaria who also joined the bar about the same time before Justice Hansaria joined as a District and Session’s Judge, who eventually became judge of the Supreme Court of India. Justice Hansaria noted his companionship and scholarly association with Laskar in his memoirs.
During 1969-1976, Laskar taught law in the Department of Law, Gauhati University, Guwahati. In 1976, he was appointed as the Standing Counsel for Union of India in the Gauhati High Court. He also worked as a Assam government panel advocate in the Gauhati High Court in the beginning of his career.
Laskar commanded a large private practice in civil, criminal and constitutional matters. He was designated as a senior advocate of Gauhati High Court in 1986 along with five other noted advocates. All of them were legal stalwarts of their time.
Laskar was a sincere and dedicated lawyer and he received many offers to serve in higher judiciary but always preferred to practice and remain active in Bar than a higher office.
Laskar was also appointed as an additional advocate general, Assam, in 1991. Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi in a note wrote about Late Makram Ali as – “An amalgam of steadfastness and gentleness” while discussing Laskar’s performance as additional advocate general.
Due to high blood pressure and health problems, Laskar had to cut short his legal career where he last appeared in a case in 2002 before the court of Late Justice JN Sharma.
Laskar finally bade adieu to his noble profession on health grounds but his guidance to the young lawyers was indeed commendable. Many of his mentees in law mentioned about his amicability and excellence in his mentorship. One of his juniors who practiced in Laskar’s chamber was Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia, who retired as Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court and currently chairperson of Assam Human Rights Commission.
Justice Saikia shared his memory with his mentor as: “During the time of my initial practice, I used to come from my permanent residence to attend the chamber of Laskar sir as I could not afford to have a rented house at Guwahati and my residence was too far from the chamber. It was a very hard life. One fine morning in 1977, Laskar sir asked me to accompany him to a place near his residence. He took me to a room in the proximity of his house. It was a big furnished room with all minimum requirements and a separate kitchen. When I enquired ‘Why have you shown me this room sir?’, he replied, ‘From now, you will stay in this house.’ Then I told him that I had no money to pay the rent. He said ‘Don’t bother for the rent. I will pay the rent. Your only duty is to attend my chamber regularly.”
Apart from his successful career in law, Laskar was a voracious reader of works from Shakespeare, Tagore and Kazi Nazrul. He was very fond of folk music of Assam.
The social life of MA Laskar is equally remarkable. He never hesitated to call a spade a spade. He was a practicing Gandhian and believed in the principle of non-violence and was inspired by the freedom fighter and first education minister of India Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Politically, a Gandhian, Laskar was closely associated with Sarat Chandra Sinha and was heavily involved with anti-emergency movements in the late 1970s. He also unsuccessfully fought elections in 1983 as Congress (Socialist) candidate from Hailakandi legislative assembly that was a splinter group formed in protest against the tyranny of Indira Gandhi during emergency.
Hailing from the famous ‘Laskar clan’ of Nitainagar in the district of Hailakandi, Assam, he was born to merchant Habib Ali Laskar who died leaving behind eight children on their own struggles. However, their mother Masurjan Bibi ensured that all her children get education and get succeeded in the struggles they were facing. Advocate Laskar left behind his younger brother, Nurul Huda Laskar, who is the senior-most lawyer in the Hailakandi District Bar. Another lawyer brother, a noted public prosecutor, Nurul Islam Laskar passed away in 2012. The other brothers who had taken the path of family business were Moin Laskar, Gias Laskar and Siraj Laskar.
Two of his sons Azim Laskar and Imran Laskar are noted lawyers who are practicing in the Supreme Court and Gauhati High Court.
Advocate Laskar is survived by a large family who gathered in Gandhi Basti, Guwahati to perform his last rites as they were reminisce the glorious history of the ‘Laskar clan’ and its legacy in the history of Assam.
The author of this article, along with the younger son of Advocate Laskar, Imran Laskar are compiling a brief history of Nitainagar Laskar clan of Assam – an integral part of the historic colonial legacy of Assam Muslims who are targeted by a vicious circle in Indian politics as Bangladeshi immigrants without knowing an iota of the history and contribution of Muslim clans, societies across Assam who are equal ‘Bhumiputras- sons of the soil’ of Assam and were active in Indian freedom struggle and stood steadfast against the partition of India and social movements that happened post-independent India.
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About Dr Mustafa Barbhuiya
The author, Dr Mustafa Barbhuiya is a senior postdoctoral research fellow in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. He hails from Hailakandi, Assam and among kinfolk of the Laskar Clan through matrimonial alliance.
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source: http://www.thenewsmill.com / The News Mill / Home / by Dr. Mustafa Barbhuiya / January 17th, 2017
Abdul Muhib Mazumder, former Law Minister of Assam, breathed his last at the wee hours of Wednesday. He was suffering from old age ailments. Mazumder was born in Hailakandi town of Assam on August 20, 1932. His father, Abdul Matlib Mazumder, was a leading freedom fighter and a Cabinet Minister of Assam during 1946-1970.
After studying at Government Victoria Memorial High School in Hailakandi he obtained his B Sc (Hons) degree from Cotton College, Guwahati, and his MA and LLB from Aligarh Muslim University. While in college and university, he was an outstanding debater and won many awards in debating competitions. He married Alamara Mazumder on June 3, 1962 and had three daughters.
Mazumder was a Senior Advocate of Gauhati High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India. He initially worked with Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former President of India and a senior lawyer of Gauhati High Court, and Jagadish Medhi, a leading legal authority. He was Senior Government Advocate for several years. He was also a Lecturer in Economics and Political Science at Pragjyotish College, Guwahati (1956-1961) and at Gauhati University Law College (1961-1980).
He became Advocate General of Assam in 1980 and served in that capacity up to 1983. Later, he also served as the Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh (1991-1996).
Mazumder entered politics in 1970s and represented LA-6 Hailakandi four times as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), during 1983-1991, 1996-2001 and 2011-2016. Incidentally, the same constituency had been represented by his father from 1946 to 1972. He became a Cabinet Minister of Assam in 1983 in the Congress Ministry headed by Hiteswar Saikia looking after law, power and municipal administration departments till 1985.
Abdul Muhib Mazumder (3rd from left) at the launch of his autobiography in Guwahati on July 29, 2016. Harsh Mander, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, and Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia are 4th, 5th, and 7th from left in the photograph. (File Photo)
In 1990s, Mazumder formed a new party called UPPA (United Peoples Party of Assam) and again became a Cabinet Minister of Assam in 1996 in the AGP-led coalition ministry headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, looking after irrigation department till 2001. Subsequently he disbanded UPPA and became the President of Samajwadi Party in Assam. Later he came back to Congress. Mazumder was Deputy Leader of Opposition (1986-1991) and formerly Vice Chairman, State Planning Board of Assam. Other posts held by him were Member, State Security Commission; Member, AICC; Vice President APCC; Chairman APCC Minority Cell; and Adviser Minority Department of APCC among others.
Among his landmark cases was his defence of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi against her prosecution by the Tirkha Commission in 1977-78 in the High Court. Two other landmarks in his career were drafting of the IMDT Act (Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act) 1983 and Assam Accord 1985 as the then Law Minister of Assam.
Mazumder’s autobiography, Down the memory Lane, was published in four volumes. At one of the launches of the autobiography in Guwahati on July 29, 2016, Harsh Mander, then Director of Centre for Equity Studies & Special Commissioner to the Supreme Court of India in the Right to Food Case, was the chief guest. Interestingly, all the legal stalwarts on the dais that day including Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia, former Chief Justice of the J&K High Court, happened to be all his students at one time or the other.
Commenting on the demise of Mazumder, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, Chairman of the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, & Sikkim, said, “Many successful lawyers of today learnt their ABCD of law under the guidance of Abdul Muhib Mazumder. Whenever any lawyer went to him for guidance, he was always ready to help them. His absence will be felt by everyone connected in any way with the legal process in the region.”
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Indian Muslim / by Nurul Islam Laskar / November 03rd, 2021
