Supreme_Court_of_Pakistan,_Islamabad_by_Usman_Ghani

Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman ( ur, ; 1 November 1910 – 20 December 1981), . , was a

Pakistani Bengali Bengalis in Pakistan are ethnic Bengali people who are either citizens of Bangladesh or those originating in the Indian state of Bengal, who had lived in either West Pakistan or East Pakistan prior to 1971 or who migrated from Bangladesh aft ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and an academic who served as the Chief Justice of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

from 18 November 1968 until 31 October 1975. Educated in law and trained as a

from the United Kingdom, he chaired the War Enquiry Commission to investigate the

causes Causes, or causality, is the relationship between one event and another. It may also refer to: * Causes (band), an indie band based in the Netherlands * Causes (company) Causes.com is a civic-technology app and website that enables users to orga ...

of the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

that led to the creation of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. In addition, Rehman served as a

law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

in the faculty of Karachi University and vice-chancellor of

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

while remaining active in promoting literacy across the country. After the

independence of Bangladesh Independence of Bangladesh was declared on 26 March 1971, celebrated as Independence Day, from Pakistan. The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the Independence of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh ...

, Rehman's family retained Pakistan's

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

and his son served as the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court. Chief Justice Rahman remained a respected figure in Pakistan's judiciary, and is hailed for his

honesty Honesty or truthfulness is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, ...

and

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

that Senior Justice

Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday Honourable Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday ( Punjabi, ) is a Pakistani jurist who served as judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He remained permanent judge of Supreme Court from 2002 to 2010. He was born in Lahore on 13 January 1945. ...

once publicly noted that "his Commission was the most honourable commission that was investigated by a Bengali Chief Justice, in spite of East-Pakistan disaster." His findings, which exposed the

Bangladesh genocide The Bangladesh genocide began on 25 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as the government of Pakistan, dominated by West Pakistan, began a military crackdown on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to suppress Bengali people, ...

and recommended charges for senior Pakistani officials, were never made public as the report was muzzled by the Bhutto administration under the guise of harming civil-military relations.

Biography

Early life, background, and education

Hamoodur Rahman was born in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

on 1 November 1910. Despite being born in Bihar, Rahman hailed from a Bengali Muslim family. Hamoodur Rahman's family practised law before the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

— his brother, Maudoodur Rahman, was also a barrister who ascended as a Judge of

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court buildi ...

. His father, Khan Bahadur Dr. Dawood ur Rahman was the first Muslim civil surgeon in undivided India to do FRCS form Royal College London. He was the personal surgeon to the Emir of Kuwait. His father in law, Nawabzada Ashraf Ali was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

who was a practising advocate in the

. Ashraf Ali later participated in general elections held in 1930 and was a member of Bengal Legislative Assembly. Ali later served as deputy speaker of the Bengal Legislative Assembly before the Partition of India. Hamoodur Rahman was educated in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and entered in

St. Xavier's College A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

where he secured his graduation in BA. He went to the Great Britain to attend the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

where he graduated with the

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

degree and resume his studies in

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, London, and was called to the Bar in London in 1937. Upon arriving in

, Rehman began practising law at the

in 1938 and served as the legal councillor of the

Calcutta Corporation Kolkata Municipal Corporation (abbreviated KMC; also Calcutta Municipal Corporation) is the local government of the Indian city of Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal. This civic administrative body administers an area of . Its motto, '' ...

in 1940. In 1943, he also presented the

Mayor of Calcutta The Mayor of Kolkata is the chief executive of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, one of the civic authorities in the Indian city of Kolkata. He is the ''First Citizen'' of the city of Kolkata. There have been 38 mayors of Kolkata in total ti ...

as its legal councillor, and was a member of the Junior Standing Counsel of the

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

from 1943 to 1947. After the

independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...

, he opted for

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

and settled in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

in 1948. He was the first Legal Advisor State Bank of Pakistan and drafted all the State Bank of Pakistan laws and rule
Supreme Court of Pakistan
He was appointed Advocate-General of East Pakistan in 1953, and held it until 1954 when he was appointed to the bench as a judge of the

Dhaka High Court The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate D ...

by the Governor of East Pakistan.

Family

His son Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman is currently now the Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In 2007, his son refused to take an oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by President

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

who imposed the Emergency in November 2007. After his restoration in 2009, he resumed hearing cases at the Lahore High Court and eventually ascended as Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court in 2013.

Career as Supreme court justice

Supreme Court of Pakistan

Justice Hamoodur Rahman served as a judge of the

from 1954 until 1960 when he was appointed as Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan by the

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

from 11 May 1958 until 14 December 1960 while serving as visiting professor of law at the Karachi University. During his career as Senior Justice at the Supreme Court, Rehman held various dignified positions and engaged himself in promoting literacy across the country. From 1959 to 1960, he was a member of International Court of Arbitration that is based in the

Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Netherlands. In 1964, Rehman, upon requested by the Ministry of Education (MoEd), led the "Commission on Students Problems and Welfare" as its chairman where he authored the report and submitted the case study recommendations to the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

in 1966. In 1967, he was the member of the "Law Reforms Commission" that conducted the various case studies on

land reforms Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

in Pakistan on behalf of Ministry of Law (MoL)– its report was submitted in 1970 to the President of Pakistan.

Chief Justice of Pakistan

In 1968, Senior Justice Hamoodur Rehman was nominated as Chief Justice by outgoing Chief Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius; his appointment as Chief Justice was approved by President

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

. His tenure witnessed the resignation of President Ayub Khan who invited Yahya Khan to take over the country through enforcing the

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in 1969. He heard the petition filed by Asma Jillani against Yahya Khan's takeover in case known as "''Asma Jillani vs. Government of the Punjab.''" Upon hearing the case, Hamoodur Rahman court retroactively invalidated the martial law that suspended the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

and notably ruled that Yahya Khan's assumption of power was "illegal usurpation". The Supreme Court also over-ruled and overturned its convictions that called for validation of

in 1958. Chief Justice Hamoodur Rehman carefully distinguish the meaning of martial law in terms of controlling the internal disorder and imposing the martial law in alien territory. His stance stood firm against Yahya Khan's martial law but condone such actions by the application of

doctrine of necessity The doctrine of necessity is the basis on which extra-constitutional actions by administrative authority, which are designed to restore order or attain power on the pretext of stability, are considered to be lawful even if such an action contrave ...

. In 1970, he supported the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the general elections held in 1970 across the country.

Bangladesh and 1971 war

Hamoodur Rahman, remained loyal to Pakistan during the

and the war with India in 1971. He did not supported the

and remained quiet throughout the events. He administrated the oath of

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...

After the war

In 1972–73, he went onto work with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and was a member of the

Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) based in Vienna. The commission serves as the primary organ that guides the activities of the United ...

. Chief Justice Justice Hamoodur Rahman retired with state honours in 1975 and administrated the oath to appoint Senior Justice

Muhammad Yaqub Ali Mohammed Yaqub Ali (Urdu language, Urdu, ) (March 1912 – 5 August 1994) was a Pakistani judge who was Chief Justice of Pakistan from 1975 to 1977.Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) until retiring in 1977.

War Enquiry Commission

In 1971, President

Zulfikar Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...

constituted a commission to investigate the responsibility causes of the war with India that led the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

and to provide insightful recommendations to prevent future armed

foreign intervention Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diffe ...

. The commission, known as War Enquiry Commission (or otherwise known as Hamoodur Rahman Commission), was led by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rehman as its chairman and consisted of both civilian and military members. Initially, Chief Justice Rahman was tasked to investigate the causes and the break-up of Pakistan, and role of the Pakistan Armed Forces in the national politics. His report revealed many aspects of politics in Pakistan Armed Forces during the East-Pakistan war. Because of the nature of the findings, it was not declassified for decades until Indian newspapers, later Pakistani newspapers, published the details.

Fact finding and recommendations

From 1971 until 1975, the Commission led by Rahman conducted several interviews of Pakistan military's senior officers, bureaucrats, politicians, activists, and the Bengali nationalists. Criticism on the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and misconduct of civilian politicians were very heavy and intense, therefore, the

Report A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

was never made it

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

in Pakistan and concealed all of its information as the report was marked as "Top secret". The report explores a number of issues such as, genocide of the Bengali populace—both civilians and Bengali soldiers—

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

, pan smuggling, looting of banks in

, drunkenness by military officers, even an instance of a one star rank officer "entertaining" women while their troops were being shelled by Indian troops. The Report recommended a string of courts-martial and military trials against the top senior military officers including the PAF's Air Marshal Enamul Haq (the AOC of Eastern Air Command of Pakistan Air Force), Vice-Admiral

Mohammad Shariff Admiral Mohammad Shariff ( ur, ; 1 July 1920 – 27 April 2020), was a Pakistan Navy senior admiral, who served as the 2nd Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and a memoirist who was at the center of all the major decisions made ...

( Fleet Commander of the

Eastern Naval Command The Eastern Naval Command is one of the three command-level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The command is responsible for the all naval forces in the Bay of Bengal and parts of the Indian Ocea ...

of Pakistan Navy), and

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Tikka Khan (the GOC of Eastern Army Command of Pakistan Army), and former generals such as Amir Khan Niazi and Rao Farman Ali. Despite recommending field courts-martial by the commission, there were no actions taken by Prime Minister Bhutto or the successive governments. Nearly 300 individuals were interviewed and hundreds of classified armed forces military signals were examined, with the final comprehensive

was submitted on 23 October 1974 by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman who submitted the report to Prime minister Secretariat.

Rehman on "Separation"

Originally, the commission was to overlook the military failure to prevent the break–up of

Eastern Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

but Chief Justice Rahman went into great depths in the roots of matter since the

in 1947. A separate chapter on the political history of Pakistan was very detailed oriented and written by Chief Justice Rahman who critically opined on the political role of

. Rahman critically opined on Bhutto and, with some degree, implicated Bhutto of manipulating President Yahya Khan to take the military action as a solution. He noted that President Yahya Khan failed to seek a sincere political settlement with

. Though the responsibility of the debacle lay on the shoulders of the people in power then as was recommended in the report by Chief Justice Rahman. When the report was submitted the then Prime Minister Bhutto, the Prime minister wrote to the chairman War Enquiry Commission Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, that the commission has exceeded its limits. The commission was appointed to look into the military "aspect of debacle", not the aspect of political failure; therefore, Bhutto classified the publications of the commission and marked its report as " Top Secret".

Fate of the Report

In 1974, the final

was submitted, but both Bhutto and President Zia-ul-Haq claimed that the report was lost and was nowhere to be located in the

National Archives of Pakistan The National Archives of Pakistan ( ur, ) is a body established by the Government of Pakistan for the purpose of preserving and making available public and private records which have bearings on the History of Pakistan, history, Pakistani cultur ...

. In the 1990s, it was revealed through

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

by ''News International'' that the

was suppressed and was held secretly at the Joint staff HQ in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

. In 2000, portion of the

was leaked equally by the ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

'' and the ''Dawn''. However, the ''

'' wilfully suppressed its own publications as if the surrender was its own scandal.

Death and legacy

Hamoodur Rahman lived a very quiet life in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

and remained active in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was appointed the Chairman of Islamic Ideology after his retirement for 3 years, later he was appointed as an advisor to the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

to publish judicial supplements. He died in Lahore due to a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

on 20 December 1981. He was buried in Lahore with close judicial associates and friends attending his funeral. Chief Justice Rahman remained very respected in Pakistan's judiciary even after his death, and is hailed for his

and