Abdur Rahman (Pakistani judge)

Sir Mohammad Abdur Rahman (1888–1962) was a lawyer and judge from Pakistan born in Delhi, India. He served as a representative of the country of India for the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) in the summer of 1947.[1][2]

Not to be confused with S. A. Rahman.
Sir Abdur Rahman: Judge on the Supreme Court of Pakistan

Early career

Prior to joining UNSCOP, Rahman began practicing law in Delhi in 1908. He quickly rose in the ranks and became Dean of the Law College (1927–1934) and later became the Vice Chancellor, a position he held until 1938.[1] He was the first Muslim Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.[3][4] He was then appointed judge of the Madras High Court in 1937, and then the High Court at Lahore in February 1943.[3] Just a year later, he became Vice Chancellor of Punjab University in Lahore in addition to his High Court duties.[3][5]

Role in the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
Meetings of UNSCOP at YMCA in Jerusalem (Seated in middle wearing a white suit is Sir Abdur Rahman)

In May 1947 he was appointed to UNSCOP by Indian National Congress President Jawaharlal Nehru.[6] At the end of UNSCOP, Sir Abdur Rahman supported the Minority Plan for a Federal State in Palestine.[7] He also included a Special Note that reflected his desire for either a Federal State or a Unitary state due to his belief in the sanctity of the spirit of the UN Charter.[8]

After UNSCOP, Rahman went home to Lahore, which had become a part of Pakistan due to the Partition of India on August 15, 1947. His family, which fled from Delhi after partition, soon joined him. He was later appointed to the Federal Court of Pakistan, a precursor to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.[9]

Personal life

One of Sir Abdur Rahman's grandchildren is the award-winning chemist and former Minister of Science and Technology of Pakistan, Atta-ur-Rahman from Pakistan.[4][10]

References
  1. "Who's Who at UNSCOP?". The Palestine Post. XXII (6432): 4. June 15, 1947.
  2. Jorge Garcia Granados (22 July 2021), The Birth of Israel: The Drama as I Saw It (1 ed.), New York: A. A. Knopf (published 1948), p. 9, hdl:2027/mdp.39015005185734
  3. Great Britain India Office (1945), The India Office and Burma Office List 1945, London: Harrison & Son's LTD, p. 116
  4. M. Iqbal CHoudhary (September 22, 2007), Professor Atta-Ur-Rahman: A Tribute to a Living Legend, Arkat USA, pp. 1–7
  5. Former Vice Chancellors, Punjab University, retrieved 5 May 2020
  6. Nicolas Blarel (2017), "Assessing US Influence over India–Israel Relations: A Difficult Equation to Balance?", Strategic Analysis (published July 4, 2017), 41 (4): 384–400, doi:10.1080/09700161.2017.1330437, ISSN 0970-0161
  7. Ben-Dror, Elad (2022). UNSCOP and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Road to Partition. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1032059631.
  8. Sir Abdur Rahman (1947), "Special Note by Sir Abdur Rahman, Representative of India", United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, vol. II, Lake Success, New York: United Nations
  9. Jawaharlal Nehru (1948), "The Palestine Conference", in S. Gopal (ed.), Selected Works Of Jawaharlal Nehru List 1945, New Delhi, India: Nehru Memorial Fund, Oxford University Press, p. 572
  10. Atta-ur-Rahman (chemist)

Further reading

P.R. Kumaraswamy (28 July 2010), "India, UNSCOP, and the Partition of Palestine", India's Israel Policy, Columbia University Press (published July 28, 2010), pp. 85–107, ISBN 978-0-231-52548-0

Elad Ben-Dror (2014), "The Success of the Zionist Strategy vis-à-vis UNSCOP", Israel Affairs (published January 2, 2014), 20 (1): 19–39, doi:10.1080/13537121.2013.863079, ISSN 1743-9086, S2CID 145279029


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