Khwaja Muhammad Ahmad Samdani (1932 – 11 April 2013) was a Pakistani judge who served on 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 ...

bench.

Early life and education

Samdani was born in 1932 in Kareem Nagar,

Hyderabad Deccan Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

, and his family migrated to Pakistan after 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 ...

in 1947. After completing his education, he taught at Islamia College Peshawar before joining the civil service and later transitioning to the judiciary. He also pursued an LLM at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

on a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

Career

In 1972, Samdani was appointed as an additional judge at the Lahore High Court. In 1974, during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's tenure as Prime Minister, anti-

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

violence erupted in Pakistan. Samdani chaired the Rabwah Tribunal, which investigated the violence that took place on 29 May 1974. Although the full report of the tribunal was not made public, it is noted that Justice Samdani considered the Second Constitutional Amendment, which declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims, to be a form of persecution against a vulnerable minority. In a bail in the Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri murder case against

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 ...

, he granted bail to Bhutto despite pressure from the military government led by

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...

. Samdani's decision was seen as a display of

judicial independence Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

and

impartiality Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the mo ...

. In April 1980, while serving as the federal law secretary, Samdani had a confrontation with Zia-ul-Haq over remarks the general had made about secretaries. Samdani stood his ground and refused to apologise, believing in the correctness of his actions. In 1981, Samdani was presented with a new oath containing clauses he deemed unconstitutional. Rather than comply with these clauses, he chose to retire from his position.

References

{{reflist 1932 births 2013 deaths Pakistani jurists Pakistani people of Hyderabadi descent Judges of the Lahore High Court Muhajir people Indian emigrants to Pakistan