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

Pakistani Bengali Bengalis in Pakistan are ethnic Bengali people who had lived in either West Pakistan or East Pakistan prior to 1971 or live in present-day Pakistan. Most Pakistani Bengalis, are bilingual speaking both Urdu and Bengali and are mainly settled ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

and an academic who served as the

Chief Justice of Pakistan The chief justice of Pakistan ( initials as CJP; , ''Munsif-e-Āzam Pākistān'') is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and is the highest-ranking officer of the Pakistani judiciary. The Federal Court of Pakistan was establis ...

from 18 November 1968 until 31 October 1975. Educated in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and trained as a jurist 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 is a for-profit civic-technology app and website that enables users ...

of the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

that led to the creation of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. In addition, Rahman served as a

law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practition ...

in the faculty of

Karachi University The University of Karachi (; 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 (which is ...

and vice-chancellor of

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

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

independence of Bangladesh The independence of Bangladesh was Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence, declared from Pakistan on 26 March 1971, which is now celebrated as Independence Day (Bangladesh), Independence Day. The Bangladesh Liberation War started on 26 March ...

, Rahman's family retained Pakistan's

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

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 virtue, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness (including straightforwardness of conduct: Good faith, earnestness), along with the ...

and

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

that Senior Justice

Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a renowned Pakistani statesman, philanthropist, and former jurist who served as senior judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 2002 to 2010. His lordship famously restored democracy ...

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 was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis residing in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the Razakar (Pakistan), Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as ...

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 (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

on 1 November 1910. Despite being born in Bihar, Rahman hailed from a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

family. Hamoodur Rahman's family practised law before the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

— his brother, Maudoodur Rahman, was also a barrister who ascended as a Judge of Calcutta High Court. 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, Ashraf Ali Khan Chowdhury was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

who was a practicing advocate in the Calcutta High Court. Ashraf Ali later participated in

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

held in 1930 and was a member of

Bengal Legislative Assembly The Bengal Legislative Assembly () was the largest legislatures of British India, legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal Presidency, Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It ...

. Ali later served as deputy speaker of the Bengal Legislative Assembly before the Partition of India. Hamoodur Rahman was educated in

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

and entered in St. Xavier's College of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

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-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

where he graduated with the LLB 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 practicing law at the Calcutta High Court in 1938 and served as the legal councillor of the Calcutta Corporation in 1940. In 1943, he also presented the Mayor of Calcutta as its legal councillor, and was a member of the Junior Standing Counsel of the

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

from 1943 to 1947. After the

independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation th ...

, he opted for

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

and settled in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

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 (), popularly known as High Court, is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate Division. It consists of the Chief Justice of Bangla ...

by the

Governor of East Pakistan The Governor of East Pakistan, formerly known as the Governor of East Bengal, served as the appointed Head of state, head of province of the Government of East Pakistan, provincial government and the representative of President of Pakistan in Ea ...

Family

His son Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman is currently Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court. Iqbal was also the Senior Justice of the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it h ...

. In 2007, his son refused to take an oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by President

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

who imposed the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

in November 2007. After his restoration in 2009, he resumed hearing cases at the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is a provincial court house based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over the province of Punjab. The High Court's principal seat is ...

and eventually ascended as Chief Justice of

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

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

by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

. In addition, Rahman served as the vice-chancellor of

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921 ...

from 11 May 1958 until 14 December 1960 while serving as visiting professor of law at the

. 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 ICC International Court of Arbitration is an institution for the resolution of international commercial disputes. It operates under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and consists of more than 100 arbitrators from rough ...

that is based in the Hague, Netherlands. In 1964, Rehman, upon requested by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(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 () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

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

land reforms Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

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. His tenure witnessed the resignation of President Ayub Khan who invited

Yahya Khan Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (4 February 191710 August 1980) was a Pakistani army officer who served as the third president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971. He also served as the fifth Commander-in-Chief, Pakistan, commander-in-chief of the Pakistan ...

to take over the country through enforcing the

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

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 extraordinary actions by administrative authority, which are designed to restore order or uphold fundamental constitutional principles, are considered to be lawful even if such an action contravenes ...

. In 1970, he supported the

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

to hold the

held in 1970 across the country.

Bangladesh and 1971 war

Hamoodur Rahman, remained loyal to Pakistan during the

and the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

with India in 1971. He did not support the

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

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

as President of Pakistan in 1971 at the Supreme Court building.

After the war

In 1972–73, he went onto work with the United Nations and was a member of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman retired with state honours in 1975 and administered the oath to appoint Senior Justice Muhammad Yaqub Ali as Chief Justice. In 1974, he was the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) until retiring in 1977.

War Enquiry Commission

In 1971, President Zulfikar Bhutto constituted a commission to investigate the responsibility causes of the war with India that led the liberation of

and to provide insightful recommendations to prevent future armed foreign intervention. The commission, known as War Enquiry Commission (or otherwise known as Hamoodur Rahman Commission), was led by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman 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. 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 (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and misconduct of civilian politicians were very heavy and intense, therefore, the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report was never made it 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, genocide of the Bengali populace—both civilians and Bengali soldiers—

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

, pan smuggling, looting of banks in East Pakistan, 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 Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

Mohammad Shariff (

Fleet Commander The Fleet Commander is a senior Royal Navy post, responsible for the operation, resourcing and training of the ships, submarines and aircraft, and personnel, of the Naval Service (United Kingdom), Naval Service. The Vice-Admiral incumbent is requ ...

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 military rank 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 battlefield, who was normall ...

Tikka Khan Tikka Khan, also known as the Butcher of Bengal.Tikka Khan title: * * * * * * * * (; 10 February 1915 – 28 March 2002) was a Pakistani military officer and war criminal who served as the first Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan), chief of the a ...

(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 report 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 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 Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

was very detailed oriented and written by Chief Justice Rahman who critically opined on the political role of Zulfikar Bhutto. 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 East Pakistan. 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 Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...

Fate of the Report

In 1974, the final report was submitted. 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, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

by ''News International'' that the report was suppressed and was held secretly at the Joint staff HQ in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

. In 2000, portion of the report was leaked equally by the ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, 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'' laun ...

'' and the ''Dawn''. However, the ''India Today'' willfully 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 ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

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 on constitutional affairs. He also conducted a commission on election reforms and proposed the proportional representation system existing in Germany, Sri Lanka and many other countries. In which it can be accessed via the

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

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

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

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