BOSTON: Karachi-born Nasser Hussain, professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought at Amherst College, USA, passed away in the early hours of Nov 9 after an extended illness, at the residence of his brother Omar Hussain in the Boston area. He was 50.

Scholars, friends and family from around the world, including his elderly mother Sultana Hussain from Karachi, gathered for his funeral on Friday. His father retired Captain Tajammul Hussain, Pakistan Navy, passed away in January last year.

Hussain did his ‘A levels’ from Karachi Grammar School in 1983. He graduated from Yale University (1988), and went on to obtain his Masters degree in 1990 from the University of California, Berkeley.

His first book, ‘The jurisprudence of emergency’ (U. of Michigan, 2003) was based on his PhD dissertation from Berkeley, earned in 1996. The dissertation was a study of sovereignty and the rule of law in British India, done under the supervision of Thomas R. Metcalf, acclaimed historian of South Asia.

Amherst College is planning a memorial service for Nasser Hussain early next year.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2015