Riaz Ahmad Khan (15 May 1952 21 August 2021) was a Pakistani judge who served as the 15th

chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court The Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan heads the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan. The Chief Justice of the Shariat Court is the second-highest judicial office in the country, after the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The Acting ...

from 7 March 2015 to 14 May 2017. Prior to his retirement from legal services in May 2014, he served as

Islamabad High Court The Islamabad High Court is the senior court of the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, with appellate jurisdiction over the following district courts: * Islamabad District Court (East) * Islamabad District Court (West) Justice Aamer Far ...

judge. He was appointed as additional deputy prosecutor at the

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

and a member of the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council also known as KP Bar Council is a statutory & deliberative assembly of lawyers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for safeguarding the rights, interests and privileges of practicing lawyers, within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinc ...

in 1999. He also served as acting chief justice of Islamabad High Court in 2013. He was also a member of the

Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) is a statutory authority of the government of Pakistan established under the Law and Justice Commission Ordinance, 1979. It is responsible for the development and improvement of legal system in ...

. He participated in the All Pakistan Declamation Contest and became the recipient of a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

. Khan became the Islamabad High Court judge on 21 Dec 2010, Federal Shariat Court judge on 8 August 2014 and chief justice of Shariat Court on 7 March 2015.

Career

Khan was born in

Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nowshera (; ; ps, نوښار, ''pr.'' ''Nowkhār'' ) is the capital city of Nowshera District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is the 78th largest city in Pakistan and ninth largest city in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. ...

. He obtained his education from

Edwardes College Peshawar Edwardes College Peshawar is a semi-government degree The college's undergraduate and graduate degree programs lead to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), 4 year BS Programme in English and Computer Science, Master of Bus ...

. Khan did his

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...

in 1968. He obtained his graduation in 1973 and a master's degree in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 1975 from the

University of Peshawar The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a Public university, public research university located in Peshawar, Khy ...

. He obtained his

Bachelor of Laws 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 People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

. He qualified

Central Superior Services The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority, and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...

1977 and was subsequently appointed as assistant transportation and assistant commercial officer to the

Pakistan Railways Pakistan Railways ( ur, ) is the national, state-owned railway company of Pakistan. Founded in 1861 and headquartered in Lahore, it owns of track across Pakistan, stretching from Torkham to Karachi, offering both freight and passenger servi ...

for

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. ...

. He later qualified Judicial Services of Pakistan (PCS) and was subsequently appointed civil judge to

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Kohat Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...

and Haripur, and

Dera Ismail Khan Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakistan ...

. He later resigned as a civil judge and began

legal practice Legal practice is sometimes used to distinguish the body of judicial or administrative precedents, rules, policies, customs, and doctrines from legislative enactments such as statutes and constitutions which might be called "laws" in the strict s ...

. In 1997 he became assistant advocate general and then additional deputy prosecutor at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) where he remained in the office for three years. When he was a student, he was elected the president of University of Peshawar at Political Science department.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Riaz Ahmad 1952 births 2021 deaths Chief justices of the Federal Shariat Court Judges of the Islamabad High Court University of Peshawar alumni Punjab University Law College alumni People from Nowshera District