A GREAT PAKISTANI
CHIEF JUSTICE HAMOOD UR RAHMAN
Compiled By.Mian Ashraf Asmi, Advocate High Court
Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, (November 1, 1910 – October 31, 1975)
was an East-Pakistani jurist who was the seventh Chief Justice of
Pakistan and the vice-chancellor of the Dhaka University as well as
professor of law at the Karachi University. Hailed from East-Pakistan,
Hamoodur Rahman retained his Pakistani citizenship even after the war
and independence of Bangladesh. Hamoodur Rahman gained international and
public fame when he was named by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Government
as the Chairman of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission. The Commission, under
Chief Justice of Pakistan Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman,[1]
investigated and was very critical to the role of Pakistan Armed Forces
in Politics. Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman remained a respectable and
honorable name in Pakistan's judiciary, and he was publicly hailed by
the Chief Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday. His commission's fact finding
and, even for his personal role, is widely regarded as the most
honorable commission that was investigated by a Bengali Chief Justice,
in spite of East-Pakistan disaster.RahmanJustice Hamoodur Rahman was
born in Patna, India.[2] He obtained his graduation from the St.
Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta and an LLB from the
University of London, studied in Gray's Inn, London, and was called to
the Bar in London in 1937. Hamoodur Rahman began his career as a lawyer
in Calcutta High Court in 1938. He was a councillor of the Calcutta
Corporation (1940) and Deputy Mayor of Calcutta (1943). Hamoodur Rahman
was a member of the Junior Standing Counsel of the province of Bengal
from 1943 to 1947. After the independence of Pakistan he opted for East
Pakistan and came to Dhaka in 1948. He was appointed Advocate General of
East Pakistan in 1953 and held it till 1954 when he was elevated to the
bench as a judge of the Dhaka High Court.Justice Hamoodur Rahman was a
judge of the Dhaka High Court from 1954 to 1960 and vice chancellor of
Dhaka University from November 1958 to December 1960. Hamoodur Rahman
was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1960, and was
made Chief Justice of Pakistan in 1968 and retired in 1976.Justice
Hamoodur Rahman held various dignified positions during his judicial
career. He was a member of the International Court of Arbitration (The
Hague, 1959–60), chairman of the Commission on Students Problems and
Welfare (1964), member of Law Reforms Commission (1967), member of War
Enquiry Commission (1972), member of United Nations Committee on Crime
Prevention and Control (1972–1973), and chairman of the Council of
Islamic Ideology, Pakistan (1974–1977). Hamoodur Rahman chose to remain a
citizen of Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation War. His son
Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman is currently the Chief Justice of the
Islamabad High Court. He had refused to take oath under the Provisional
Constitutional Order issued by General Pervez Musharraf who imposed the
Emergency Rule in November 2007. He resumed work at the Lahore High
Court on the 19th of March 2009 after the restoration of Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report In 1971,
the-President Zulfikar Bhutto set up the public inquiry commission and
named Chief Justice Rahman as its Chairman. 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 an Indian newspapers,
later Pakistani newspapers, published the details.Fact finding During
1971 till 1975 when the commission submitted its report, Chief Justice
Rahman conduct several interviews of Pakistan Armed Forces' senior
military officers as well as Bengali nationalists. Due to its criticism
to government and other serious allegations on politicians, the report
was never made public 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, killing of thousands of East Pakistanis—both
civilians and "Bengali" soldiers—rape, pan smuggling, looting of banks
in East Pakistan, drunkenness by officers, even an instance of a 1 star
officers "entertaining" women while their troops were being shelled by
Indian troops. The report recommended a string of courts-martial and
trials against top senior military officers. The commission called for
the courts-martial of the PAF's Lieutenant-General Enamul Haq— Air
Officer Commanding of Eastern Military Air Command of Pakistan Air
Force, Vice-Admiral Mohammad Shariff— Commander of the Naval Eastern
Command of Pakistan Navy, and Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan— General
Officer Commanding of Army Eastern Command of Pakistan Army— and former
generals Amir Khan Nazi and Rao Farman Ali. However, no action was taken
were by Bhutto and his government. The Pakistan Armed Forces' role in
splintering Pakistan after its greatest military debacle was largely
ignored by successive Pakistani governments. The report examined nearly
300 individuals and hundreds of classified armed forces signals. The
final report was submitted on October 23, 1974 by Chief Justice Hamoodur
Rahman who submitted the report to Prime minister Secretariat.What was
found?This commission of inquiry was appointed to look into the military
aspect of the debacle of East Pakistan, but however Chief Justice
Hamoodur Rahman went into the depth of the matter right since 1947 the
creation of Pakistan. He wrote a separate chapter on the Political
aspect of the debacle as well very extensively, and also provided the
critical role of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. In his report, Hamoodur Rahman
founded and criticized Bhutto for his role in the 1971 crisis, to some
extent implicating him as well of having manipulating General Yahya Khan
to take military action. Chief Justice Rahman noted that the General
Yahya Khan failed to not come to political settlement laying the
foundation of two separate states which was known during general's time
as "Tum Wahan Hum Yaha"
We're here, you're there.). 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
Inquiry 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.
Bhutto classified the publications of the Commission and marked its
report as "Top Secret". Soon, the report was stolen from Prime minister
Secretariat by the members of Naval Intelligence.Fate After the report
was submitted, the both Bhutto and General Zia-ul-Haq claimed that it
was lost and the report was no where to be found. However, it turned out
to have been willfully suppressed by both Bhutto and General Zia-ul-Haq
and to have lain in the Directorate-General for the Military History of
the Combatant Pakistan Army General Headquarters (GHQ) all the time.
Pakistan's premier newspaper, The News International began to look for
the publications after the elements of reports were published by Indian
newspaper, The Times of India in 2000. After much investigation, the
News International reported that the report was founded and was stored
in secret record section of the Pakistan Army. After much criticism
given to General Musharraf and his military regime, the Pakistan
Government finally declassified all of the 1970s secret publications,
hence making it public domain.
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it is my humble tribute for a great pakistani lover chief justice of pakistan.
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