Justice Asif Saeed Khosa nominated 26th Chief Justice of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Following the retirement of current Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, Mr Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, the most senior judge of the Supreme Court (SC), has been named as the 26th Chief Justice of Pakistan, ARY News reported. 

On Wednesday, President of Pakistan Arif Alvi approved the nomination of Justice Khosa as the CJP.

Justice Khosa will assume the charge of his office on January 18 in a ceremony at the President House in Islamabad.

He will remain as the top judge of Pakistan till December 20, 2019.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who assumed his office on December 31, 2016, is set to retire on 17th of this month.

Who is Justice Asif Saeed Khosa?

Born on December 21, 1954, in Dera Ghazi Khan, Justice Khosa passed his matriculation exam in 1969 from the Multan Board. In 1973 he appeared for the B.A exams from Government College Lahore at Punjab University and secured the first position. He did his Master’s in English language and literature from the University of the Punjab in 1975.

Justice Khosa then attended the University of Cambridge’s Queens’ College, obtaining a Master’s degree in law with a specialisation in Public International Law. Later he was called to the bar on July 26, 1979, at the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London.

Barrister Khosa was then appointed as a judge at the Lahore High Court in May 1998. When on November 3, 2007, former president General (retd.) Musharraf declaring a state of emergency suspended the constitution and demanded the judges of the superior judiciary to retake oaths under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), Justice Khosa refused to abide by the presidential order.

Resultantly, he was sacked from the office among other judges of high courts and the SC.

On August 18, 2008, Justice Khosa was restored to his prior position as a High Court judge in the wake of an unprecedented mass movement to restore the superior judges sacked for not retaking their oaths under the PCO.

The movement, initially launched by lawyers later attracted political workers and civil society activists.

Landmark verdicts of Justice Khosa

He was in the seven-member larger bench of the Supreme Court which heard the contempt of court proceedings against the former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.

In May 2012, the Supreme Court ruled against Gillani, disqualifying him from holding the office of the Prime Minister.

Justice Khosa wrote a separate six-page note in which he, quoting famed Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran, wrote about the “Pity of the Nation”. The note became subject of media coverage all over the country.

Justice Khosa also headed the larger bench of the SC that heard the Panama Papers case against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Remarking on article 62 and 63 of the constitution during the case hearing he wrote:

“This case is the first of its kind. We know the gravity of a declaration by the court and its effects for both the parties saying that someone was not honest. But we have to lay down parameters, otherwise, except for the Jamat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, no one will survive.

Justice Khosa also added passed several remarks that attracted the public attention while hearing a case against Asia Bibi, a Christian woman alleged of blaspheming against the Holy Prophet (PBUH). A three-member bench of the SC unanimously acquited Bibi on October 31, 2018.

Justice Khosa, while agreeing with the rest of the bench, had written a separate note in the verdict, highlighting his reasons for the acquittal of Bibi.