Afzal Ul Haque

A Tribute to Afzal Ul Haque: The Enduring Influence of a Jurist, Scholar, and Patriarch

Written by his son, Akhlaque Ul Haque.

On August 21, 1980, my father, Afzal Ul Haque — also known professionally as Afzalul Haque — died while serving as President of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal of Bangladesh. He was only fifty-one years old.

More than four decades later, I find myself returning to the outlines of his life: the places he traveled, the institutions he served, the law he helped interpret, and the family that had far too little time with him.

His was a life shaped by learning, public service, and the upheavals that transformed the Indian subcontinent during the twentieth century. It began near Delhi under British rule and ended in an independent Bangladesh. Between those points, he became a lawyer, Fulbright scholar, university lecturer, advocate before the superior courts, and appellate tax jurist.

But to us, he was also a father — and that is the part of his legacy no official record can fully preserve.

From Delhi to Calcutta

My father was born on September 10, 1929, near Delhi, India. His family's ancestral home was Paigram Kosba in Khulna, then part of British India and now in Bangladesh.

His father, my grandfather Kazi Sayed Anwarul Haque, served as Deputy Postmaster General of India. He later lived in Dacca, East Pakistan, where he died in 1964.

My father received his elementary education at St. Mary's School in Delhi. He subsequently attended the University of Calcutta, studying economics before completing his legal education.

That combination of economics and law would come to define his professional life. He understood taxation not simply as a collection of statutes, but as a point where government, commerce, public finance, and individual rights met.

A Fulbright Scholar in Texas

My father's abilities took him far from home. As one of the first Fulbright scholars from East Pakistan, he traveled to the United States to pursue postgraduate legal study at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

On June 2, 1958, SMU conferred upon him the degree of Master of Laws in Comparative Law.

His original diploma remains one of our family's treasured records. In its formal lettering, it documents an achievement that was exceptional for a South Asian lawyer of his generation. SMU's archives also preserve his name in the university's contemporary law-school records.

The surviving photographs from Texas reveal another side of that journey. In one, he sits in the middle of the front row among a lively crowd. In another, he stands with an international group of scholars. These are more than academic mementos. They show a young Bengali lawyer participating in the international exchange of ideas at a time when such opportunities were rare.

"I often wonder what Dallas must have looked like through his eyes in the 1950s — and what ambitions and responsibilities he carried with him when he returned home."

Advocate and Teacher in Dacca

After completing his LL.M., my father returned to Dacca, now Dhaka, and resumed his legal career. He became a senior advocate, practicing before the High Court and the Supreme Court.

At the same time, he taught part-time at the University of Dhaka.

The two roles complemented each other. In court, he had to test legal principles against the facts of actual disputes. In the classroom, he could pass that experience to a new generation of lawyers.

His practice became closely associated with revenue and taxation law. Reported judicial decisions preserve traces of his work and, in some instances, the arguments he presented on behalf of the tax authorities.

In Messrs Yasin (East Pakistan) Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, reported as 1968 PTD 421, he appeared for the Commissioner of Income-Tax. The case concerned whether a payment arising from a violation of customs regulations could be deducted as an ordinary business expense. The Dacca High Court held that a penalty for breaking the law could not be treated as expenditure incurred wholly and exclusively for business.

The final lines identifying counsel are simple: "Afzal Haque for Respondent." Yet for our family, those few words preserve his presence in the courtroom.

He also represented the tax authority in Ansaruddin v. Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Income-Tax, Dacca, reported as 1972 PTD 200. The dispute raised a difficult question: could a new requirement to pay tax before appealing restrict a right of appeal that had already arisen under the earlier law? My father presented the government's authorities, although the court ultimately ruled that the taxpayer's pre-existing right continued under the old law.

A lawyer's contribution cannot be measured only by whether the court accepts every argument. The adversarial system depends on skilled counsel presenting each side fully, allowing judges to reach a reasoned decision.

In Pakistan River Steamers Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, Dacca Zone, reported as 1971 PTD 204, he appeared for the Income Tax Department in a dispute concerning corporate assessments, losses, depreciation, and the arrangements between Pakistan and India for avoiding double taxation. The judgment records that he produced the company's original returns and argued that the company had failed to use the alternative appeal provided by law. The court accepted this as an additional reason to refuse the company's request.

He also represented the revenue authorities in Latif Bawany Jute Mills Ltd. and Others v. Sales Tax Officer, reported as 1971 PTD 26. The case involved leading jute manufacturers and questions of export exemptions, partially manufactured goods, reassessment, and limitation. The prominent lawyer A. K. Brohi represented the companies. The judgment describes my father as arguing the respondents' position "equally vehemently."

These cases show the level at which he practiced. They placed him at the intersection of law, government revenue, international commerce, and the industries upon which East Pakistan's economy depended.

From Advocacy to Adjudication

Around 1968, my father moved with our family from Dacca to Karachi. There, he joined Pakistan's Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in a judicial capacity.

This marked an important change. An advocate is responsible for presenting one side of a dispute with skill and conviction. A tribunal member must step back from both sides, examine the record independently, and reach a fair decision according to law.

His years as an advocate had prepared him for that responsibility. He understood the statutes, the procedures, and the practical consequences of tax before a court and ask that a legal argument be heard fairly.

After the independence of Bangladesh, he continued his public service in the new country. He eventually became President of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal of Bangladesh, one of its senior offices in the specialized administration of tax justice.

His career had now come full circle: from student of economics and law, to advocate, teacher, appellate jurist, and finally president of the institution charged with resolving some of the country's most complex tax disputes.

The Life Behind the Public Record

Official records preserve degrees, appointments, reported cases, and professional titles. They tell us where a person studied, what office he held, and which arguments he presented.

They cannot tell us everything about the man.

They cannot capture his voice at home, the small rituals of family life, the expectations he carried for his children, or the private qualities by which those closest to him knew him. Nor can they fully convey what it meant for a family to move between Dacca and Karachi during a turbulent period — or to rebuild its life amid the political transformation of the subcontinent.

The photograph of my father from later in his life is especially meaningful to me. He is wearing glasses and a white cap, his hands raised in prayer. It is not the formal image of an advocate or tribunal president. It is a quieter portrait: reflective, human, and close to the way a family remembers.

A Life Interrupted

My father passed away on August 21, 1980, while he was still serving as President of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. His fifty-second birthday was less than three weeks away. He had accomplished much in his life, but sadly, he should have had more time. He deserved more time to serve, more time to teach, and more time to witness his children grow. When someone dies too soon, their family inherits both a profound legacy and a significant absence. We strive to preserve what remains because we cannot reclaim the years that were lost.

A Family History of Scholarship and Public Service

My father's commitment to scholarship and public service was part of a wider family history.

According to our family records, Khan Bahadur Qazi Azizul Haque was an uncle of my grandfather, Kazi Sayed Anwarul Haque — making him my father's granduncle. Like our family, Qazi Azizul Haque came from Paigram Kasba in Khulna.

Born around 1872, Qazi Azizul Haque was a Bengali mathematician, inventor, and police officer in British India. He played a foundational role in developing the system by which fingerprints could be classified, organized, and searched efficiently.

Working with Edward Henry and Hem Chandra Bose, he devised the mathematical basis of what became known as the Henry Classification System. His method organized fingerprint records into 1,024 categories, allowing police to locate a matching record in minutes rather than spending an hour using the older anthropometric system.

For many years, the full importance of his contribution was insufficiently acknowledged. The system carried Henry's name, even though historical evidence later established the essential roles played by Qazi Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose. Henry himself eventually acknowledged that Haque had contributed more than any other member of his staff to perfecting the classification system.

Qazi Azizul Haque received the title Khan Sahib in 1913 and Khan Bahadur in 1924. Later scholars have argued that the system should more properly be called the Henry–Haque–Bose Classification System.

This family connection adds another dimension to my father's story. Qazi Azizul Haque applied mathematics to a practical problem of identification; a generation later, Afzal Ul Haque brought together economics and law in the specialized field of taxation. Both men pursued advanced knowledge and placed it in the service of public institutions.

Their careers unfolded in different professions, but they shared a belief in disciplined thought, careful classification, and public responsibility. Remembering my father therefore also means remembering the intellectual and public-service tradition from which he came.

What He Left Behind

My father's life crossed borders and historical eras. He was born in British India, built his early career in East Pakistan, served in West Pakistan, and completed his public service in independent Bangladesh.

Through every transition, education remained his compass and the law his vocation.

He left behind a record of intellectual achievement, principled advocacy, legal teaching, and public responsibility. He demonstrated that scholarship could lead to service, that professional distinction could coexist with devotion to family, and that the careful interpretation of law was itself a contribution to building institutions.

I am writing this so that his name will not survive only in old law reports or archival pages.

Afzal Ul Haque was a Fulbright scholar and a student of comparative law. He was a senior advocate and a teacher. He was a jurist entrusted with resolving difficult disputes and the President of Bangladesh's Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.

And he was my father.

He left us far too soon, but the life he lived — and the values it represented — remain worthy of remembrance.

This tribute draws upon family records, original photographs, Southern Methodist University archives, and reported judicial decisions in which Afzal Ul Haque appeared as counsel. Written by his son, Akhlaque Ul Haque.