The inspiring man,
with a height of 56 inches only, overcame his handicap by becoming the chief
justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He worked in this capacity from April
17, 1993, to April 14, 1994.He possessed a brilliant academic career, having
doctorate of law (with distinction) from Paris University. He had a successful
legal practice when he was appointed as a high court judge at the age of 39. He
retired as the chief justice of Pakistan at the age of 65, the longest tenure
of a judge in the history of the subcontinent. He was Nasim Hassan Shah- the former
Chief Justice who passed away on Tuesday (4th February, 2015) in
Lahore after a prolonged illness.
Justice Nasim Hassan
Shah was born to Syed Mohsin Shah in Lahore on April 15, 1929. He also served
as the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman. He was 86 and is survived by three
daughters and a widow.
Judges and senior
lawyers of the country expressed sorrow and grief over his demise and called him
a role model for all the people who fail to actively perform in the society
owing to some complexes.
According to
Wikipedia Encyclopedia, perhaps the only time in Pakistans' Judicial History a petition
against a Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan was filed,
seeking registration of a case against him on charges of abetting in the
"murder" of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. A division bench
comprising Justices Sheikh Abdur Rashid and Bilal Khan held that the petition
hardly qualified for processing because the judge of a bench could not be
proceeded against in a case which had already been decided.
The members of the bench felt that
petitioner Mian Mohammad Hanif Tahir of the People's Lawyers Forum(PLF)
was hardly prepared to address legal aspects of the case and questions arising
out of the petition. Instead, he was agitating legal points in a political
manner.One member of the bench remarked; In a situation
where the judgment of a case was effective for citation as a reference, an
ambiguous statement of one of the members of a panel of judges hearing the
case, could in no way prejudice the decision after two decades. If such things
were allowed to happen, the whole judicial system would collapse.
The PLF leader Hanif Tahir had
quoted the former chief justice as saying in two of his press interviews that
the Supreme Court judgment in the appeal of the late Bhutto against his death
sentence awarded by the Lahore High Court, was a wrong decision and it was a
fit case for lesser punishment.
The petitioner submitted that Mr
Shah was part of the 7-member bench of the Supreme Court which upheld the death
penalty. He contended that comments of the former chief justice amounted to a
confessional statement and that he had shown no such sentiments while agreeing
with the majority opinion of apex court's bench which confirmed the execution
of Mr Bhutto.
When the proceedings began, the
petitioner requested the court that a larger bench be constituted to hear the
case which was of paramount importance. Rejecting the request, the court
informed Mr Tahir tFIRs were
usually heard by a single bench. It was because of the nature of case that the
chief justice had constituted a division bench.
hat petitions seeking registration of
Later, the petitioner requested for
time to collect evidence and sought an adjournment. The court refused to do so
and directed him to argue his case as he should have gathered evidence before
coming to the court.
The petitioner started with quotes
from the interview of Mr Shah. The court asked him if such quotes, taken from a
television interview, carried any legal significance. When the petitioner
submitted that the text of interview was a "public document", the
court asked the lawyer to define the legality of public documents and remarked
that points raised in the petition were based on hearsay.
As for petitioner's contention that
Mr Shah had made a confessional statement in his interview, the court directed
him to examine the relevant law to know what a confessional statement was and
if it carried a legal weight if given on a non-judicial or extrajudicial forum.
He must also differentiate between a press statement and a legal statement
recorded in a court of law. The bench of the Lahore High Court on 12 February
2004 dismissed in limina.
On 25 February 2010, President Asif Ali Zardari said in Quetta: "I believe former Justice Naseem Hassan Shah as
the murderer of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto."
Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman
Azam Nazir Tarar said Dr Shah was a great man who overcame his disability and
earned a good career. He was a role model for others, Azam Nazir said.
Activism Penal Chairman Azhar
Siddique said that Dr Nasim Hasan Shah was one of the legends of legal
fraternity. He always worked for the rule of law and supremacy of the
Constitution. Azhar Siddique, however, said Dr Shah’s decision in Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto’s case was against the norms of justice, adding the deceased himself had
admitted negation of right to free trial in that case, which had become part of
the Constitution through Article 10-A of the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
