Supreme_Court_of_Pakistan,_Islamabad_by_Usman_Ghani

Saeed Uz Zaman Siddiqui (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Pakistani jurist and legislator of great prominence who formerly served as the 15th Chief Justice of Pakistan and, prior to that, the 7th Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court. At the time of his death, he was serving as the 28th Governor of Sindh.

Education

Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui was born in a middle-class, educated

Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu) and the M ...

family and received his school education at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

(in modern

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

) and also was educated at

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 ...

. Justice Siddiqui passed

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 ...

from the Board of Secondary Education from

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 i ...

East 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, wi ...

in 1952. In 1954, Justice Siddiqui obtained intermediate in

Engineering science Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

s from the

University of Dacca 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 it ...

. Siddiqui worked at the Physics Department, and taught undergraduate physics laboratory courses. Thereafter, Siddiqui moved to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, West-Pakistan and attended

Karachi University The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh ...

in 1954. There, at Karachi University, Siddiqui obtained

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in Philosophy and L.L.B from the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (wh ...

in 1958. In 1960, Justice Siddiqui started legal practice at the Sindh High Court. Justice Siddiqui was awarded honorary membership of the Judicial fraternity of Australia and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

after the news of his resignation from the office of the Chief Justice was made public in January 2000, after his refusal to take the Oath under the PCO (Provisional Constitutional Order), which was an extra-constitutionally prescribed Oath for the Judges by the military regime of

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 t ...

. Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui received a letter of commendation from the Judiciary of the United Kingdom and was inducted in the roles of Judges of eminence by the British Judiciary for his stand in the cause of the independence of Pakistan's Judiciary, his stand was later glorified by the lawyers movement in Pakistan which helped Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary's restoration.

Career

Joining the Bar and Sindh High Court

Justice Saeeduzzaman joined the Bar in February 1961. He enrolled as Advocate of High Court of West Pakistan in November 1963, and enrolled as Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 1969). He was elected Joint Secretary of Karachi High Court Bar Association in 1967. He was elected Member of Managing Committee of Karachi High Court Bar Association for the year 1968–69. In 1977, he was elected Honorary Secretary of High Court Bar Library and continued as such until begin elevated as a Judge of Sindh High Court on 5 May 1980. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court on 5 November 1990 and as Judge of

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

on 23 May 1992.

Chief Justice of Pakistan

He was appointed the Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman Pakistan Law Commission w.e.f. 1 July 1999 till 1 December 2005. He was the Chief Justice of Pakistan when the 1999 military coup d'état was staged by then- Chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), ( ur, ); is an administrative body of senior high-ranking uniformed military leaders of the unified Pakistan Armed Forces who advises the civilian Government of Pakistan, National Security Council, ...

and Chief of Army Staff General

. Notably, he defied the request given by Musharraf via the

Law Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

and Legal Adviser Sharifuddin Pirzada to take a new oath under the

Provisional Constitutional Order The Provisional Constitutional Order, popularly known as PCO, is an emergency and extra-constitutional order that suspends either wholly or partially the Constitution of Pakistan — the supreme law of land. The PCO fulfills and acts as the temp ...

(PCO) saying that: "Taking an oath under the PCO, in my opinion, will be a deviation from the oath I had taken to defend the constitution of 1973". The PCO not only negated the independence of the judiciary and democratic norms, but also prolonged the martial law by nullifying the effect of any judgement given against

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

's government.

Post-retirement

As a consequence of this, he was forced to step down from his position by the military regime. His tenure time period was shortened due to his refusal to take the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) Oath, prescribed by General Pervez Musharraf to legitimize the Legal Framework Order, 2002. After a long discussion with the four Army generals sent to his residence by General Musharraf; namely, Lieutenant-General (Retired)

Moinuddin Haider Moinuddin Haider, HI(M) (Urdu: معین الدین حیدر ; born 5 June 1942) is a retired three-star rank general of the Pakistan Army, who later served as the Governor of Sindh and then as the Interior Minister of Pakistan. Army career Ha ...

, who was Interior Minister, then-Lieutenant-General

Ehsan ul Haq General Ehsan ul Haq NI(M), HI(M) ( ur, ; b. 22 September 1949), is a retired four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army and a public official, served as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, appointed in October 2005 ...

, Core-commander of the XI Corps, Lieutenant-General (retired) Mahmud Ahmed, then- Director General of the ISI and Brigadier-General (retired) Javed Ashraf Bajwa; Chief Justice Siddiqui refused to take the

Oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

after which the Generals left. On the orders of GHQ he, along with his family were put into house arrest. On 25 August 2008,

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

announced that Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui would be Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Jamaat-e-Islami nominee to replace Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan. He lost the 6 September 2008 Pakistani presidential election, by 153 votes to

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...

, who was elected President of Pakistan. The PML-N although in power wanted Siddiqui as a unanimous candidate as he was the only nonpartisan candidate contesting this election of 2008. Justice Siddiqui was again selected for running as the candidate in the

2013 Pakistani presidential election Presidential elections were held on 30 July 2013 in Pakistan to elect the 12th President of Pakistan. Incumbent President Asif Ali Zardari’s term was scheduled to expire on 8 September 2013; and as such, Article 41 of the Constitution of Paki ...

, but at the last moment his name was replaced by

Mamnoon Hussain Mamnoon Hussain ( ur, ; 22 December 1941 – 14 July 2021) was a Pakistani politician and industrialist who served as the 12th president of Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. He was first appointed Governor of Sindh in June 1999 by President Rafiq ...

as Siddiqui never joined the PML-N and was a neutral candidate. He was supported by Baloch nationalists.

Governor of Sindh

On 9 November 2016, Nawaz Sharif contacted Justice Siddiqui and asked him to accept the position of the Governor, in the wake of event which followed the dismissal of Dr. Ishratul Ibad Khan. Justice Siddiqui was sworn in as the 31st Governor of Sindh on 11 November 2016. He died in office exactly two months later.

Appointments

* Appointed Member of

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ; ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, l ...

on 9 August 1980. * Appointed as Chairman Rule Committee of High Court of Sindh on 1 February 1986. * Appointed Chairman Sindh

Zakat Zakat ( ar, زكاة; , "that which purifies", also Zakat al-mal , "zakat on wealth", or Zakah) is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is ...

Council on 13 September 1988. * Appointed as Member of Company Law Commission on 7 June 1989. * Appointed Acting Governor of Sindh from 27 July 1990 to 30 July 1990. * Appointed Acting Chief Justice of High Court of Sindh from 19 September 1990 to 19 October 1990. * Appointed as 15th Chief Justice of Pakistan from 1 July 1999 to 25 January 2000 was until December 2005 * Appointed Chairman of

Citizens' Group on Electoral Process The Citizens' Group on Electoral Process (CGEP) is a Pakistani organisation created to ensure that free, fair and credible elections take place in the country. The first Chairman of the CGEP was Chief Justice (R) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui Saeed ...

(CGEP) * Member OIC contact group, also submitted a report on 'Bulgarian Muslims Social condition' * Appointed as Governor of Sindh on 9 November 2016

Activities

* Appointed as Member of 3-men Contact Group, by Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Conference to investigate the plight of Muslim minority in Bulgaria in May 1986. He presented the first report of the group to the 17th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held at Amman, Jordan, in March 1988, a second report to the 18th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers at Riyadh in March 1989, and the third report to the 19th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers at Cairo in July 1990. * Also presented a preliminary report on the plight of Muslim minority in Bulgaria in the Extraordinary Session of Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in New York in October 1989. Attended the 17th, 18th, 19th and the Extraordinary Session of Islamic Conferences of Foreign Ministers in Amman, Riyadh, Cairo and New York on special invitation of Secretary-General of Organization of Islamic Conference. * He was the Chairman of numerous organizations, some of which are The Council for Foreign Relations Economic Affairs and Law and President of the Poor Patient's Society of Pakistan. He was the Chairman of the World Bank supported Organization for Alternative Dispute Resolution (Pakistan). * He was also the nominee judge for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at

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 o ...

, from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. * On 25 August 2008,

announced that Justice Siddiqui would be Pakistan Muslim League (N) and

Jamaat-i-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fr ...

's joint candidate to replace

as President of Pakistan, he also received popular support from the Baloch Nationalist parties, although he had never joined any political party even after being approached by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

in 2007 and again in 2010. He chose to remain a nonpartisan individual. His name has been suggested by JUI and

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

for the Prime Minister candidate when the interim government comes into power after March 2013. * On 9 November 2016,

in consultation with

appointed him as the Governor of Sindh province.

Illness and death

Siddiqui contracted

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

and was hospitalised in early November 2016. He returned to the Governor House on 11 December 2016 and died on 11 January 2017 as a serving Governor when he contracted another pneumonia on his healthy right lung. His state funeral was organised in the Governor House, making him the second person in the history of the country to receive a state funeral after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. He was 77. In 2018, Siddiqui was posthumously awarded the

Sitara-i-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

- Pakistan's third highest civilian honour - by President

Siblings

He had 4 brothers and 4 sisters named

Brothers

1) Qamar uzzaman Siddique 2) Badr uzzaman Siddique 3) Khaliq uzzaman Siddique 4) Anees uzzaman Siddique

Sisters

1) Mehr-un-nisa 2) Tahira Mehmood 3) Surraya Iqbal 4) Kausar Waseem

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqui, Saeeduzzaman 1939 births 2017 deaths Muhajir people Governors of Sindh Candidates for President of Pakistan Chief justices of Pakistan Pakistani activists Chief Justices of the Sindh High Court Pakistani scholars Politicians from Karachi University of Karachi alumni Sindh Muslim Law College alumni Lawyers from Karachi Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz