Ijaz Hussain Batalvi

"It is easy to bear a person with empty stomach but its very difficult to bear an empty mind person."

"Here in Pakistan, there is a need to appoint a police man with every person to moniter him as everybody is compromised to indulge in corruption."

"At the time of independence, Punjab had inherited 19 jails, whereas 21 more prisons had been commissioned after 1947. It was also at this Attock Fort that the trial of various officers of the country’s armed forces was held in 1973 and then in 1985."

"In a case of bail which Mr Ijaz Hussain Batalvi was opposing, a very eminent attorney, while persuading the court to agree that the persons seeking bail would not abscond if allowed bail nor would interfere with the prosecution, vehemently urged."

"My boy, he may not take you to court but would certainly take out your front teeth, with the blessings of the entire neighbourhood." Mr Batalvi bought a new blue colour Ford Cortina. On Aftab Guls daring (so I still claim), I climbed on its roof to perform the twist amidst loud clapping."

"Mr. Batalvi never compromised on principles and always raised voice for the rights of the bar members."

"Maybe we now live in interesting times when they don’t make great men any more. I am also reminded of another memorable personality, Ijaz Hussain Batalvi. He was not just an ordinary barrister but one who had practiced in England as well as Pakistan. Being at the helm of his career during the 1970s, he became a prosecution lawyer against Z A Bhutto in the Kasuri murder case which resulted in his social boycott by fellow writers. Many amongst the legal community may not be aware of the fact that he was also a fiction writer. The community of intellectuals did not like the fact that he had represented the government."

"When I first arrived in London in 1953, my friend, Ijaz Hussain Batalvi whom I hadn’t seen for some years, had become a dandified Londoner. He had had all the required dinners at Lincoln’s Inn and was about to enter the Bar. He was now living, in what Roger Fry, called"

"He did not deliver a lecture; he gave a performance. He viewed the teacher as the "principal actor in a one-act play." During one of his remarkable lectures on torts, Aftab Gul and I spontaneously responded with wah wah."

"A well-known heckler would waive his hand vigorously in every class with cries of Sarr Sarr. Important Swal Yes, my boy Mr Batalvi would yield. "Sarr, if my next door neighbours sister is named Yasmin and I called my house Yasmin Cottage, can her brother take me to court and sue me for damages"?"

"Mr. Batalvi agree with Mr. Muahaam Ali Jinnah Qauid-e-Azam who beautifully elucidated in his quotation, "Islam established democracy, peace and justice to safeguard the rights of the oppressed" ."

"The late Ijaz Husain Batalvi was a multi-dimensional personality — a short story writer, critic, poet, essayist, broadcaster, barrister and a teacher at Law College, Lahore. His literary career was spread over a span of half a century but surprisingly, he never published his work in a book form during his lifetime. Intizar Husain, in his article ‘Lazzat ki talash mein’, once asked him why it was so and the humble Ijaz sahib replied, ‘Mein koi sikkaband adeeb nahi hoon. Apni koi adbi haseeyat manwani maqsood nahin hai. Tabiyat idhar aaye likh liya, nahi aayee na likha. Asal mein main aik weekend writer hoon.’ (‘I am not some sort of stamp approved Litterateur. My objective is not to get an approval of my literary standing as such. When the feeling comes I write, if it doesn’t come I don’t write. Actually, I consider myself a weekend writer’.)"