Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, NI, (b. 12 June 1923), Barrister-at-Law (Lincoln''s Inn) and a graduate in Law from Bombay University (British India) in 1945, Senior advocate Supreme Court, is widely regarded as Pakistan''s leading jurist and constitutional expert with an iconic status. He is also considered an authority on the Pakistan independence movement. He is a direct descendant of Shaikh Burhanuddin Raz-i-Ilahi (the famous Saint of the Shattar order in Burhanpur, who had, amongst others, Emperor aurangzeb as his disciple)
Sharifuddin Pirzada has served a variety of senior government posts during the military regimes in his long and disgraced career. Until recently (March 2008) served as Honorary Senior adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign affairs, Law, Justice and Human Rights with the status of Senior Federal Minister.
His immense legal skills have widely been used against democracy, civil liberties and legal rights. His draconian knowledge has always been a hurdle in Pakistan chequered constitutional and civil right history. Examples of cases where he represented civil society in obtaining favorable decisions from the courts include Mawlvi Tamizuddin''s case, Margalla Towers'' case, asma Jilani''s case and al-Jihad Trust''s [AKA Judges] case. Various leaders of Pakistan (Zia-ul-Haq, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Pervez Musharraf) have also turned to him when confronted with serious legal challenges to get the courts to rule in their favor. Examples of these being Begum Nusrat Bhutto''s Case, Khawja Tariq Rahim''s Case, Pir Sabir Shah''s Case, Justice Sajjad ali Shah''s appointment case, and Syed Zafar ali Shah''s Case.