Zafar Ul Haq was born in Masaka, Uganda, in 1927. He studied medicine at the Punjab University, Pakistan, where he graduated in 1950. Following house appointments in Pakistan he returned to his parental home at Masaka where he worked in general practice and as a surgeon to the Nkozi Mission Hospital. Intent on a surgical career he came to England in 1962, taking the Fellowship of the College in 1968. He held surgical posts at St James's Hospital, Tredegar, and at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and an associate specialist post at the Royal South Hampshire Hospital. Finally in 1974 he was appointed consultant in accident and emergency surgery at the Medway Hospital, Kent. His great interest was in the treatment of burns and in the associated plastic surgery. He had a continued interest in scholarship and took great pains to help his juniors in their exams. Success in the surgical fellowship was both expected and achieved under his guidance and he derived intense pleasure from the examination successes of his juniors. Zafar was a perfectionist surgeon who applied the same attention to his hobbies of photography and gardening. It is said that his lawns and borders were as perfect as his skin grafts. He died suddenly in his own department on 26 April 1984. He was survived by his wife, Salmi, and his three sons.