Last rites: Judge, who refused Musharraf’s first PCO, dies at 78

Justice Mamoon Kazi was Sindh High Court's tenth chief justice.

KARACHI: Retired justice Mamoon A Kazi, who had refused to take oath under the first Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) issued by then General (retd) Pervez Musharraf after his first coup in October 1999, died on Wednesday.

His funeral prayers were offered at Sultan Masjid in DHA and he was laid to rest at the Gizri graveyard.

A nephew of another retired Sindh High Court (SHC) justice, Mushtak Ali Kazi, Mamoon also chose the profession of law. He was elevated as an SHC judge on July 29, 1985, and subsequently became the province's tenth chief justice on April 15, 1996. He was then elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on November 4, 1997.

According to senior lawyers, Mamoon was one of the best jurists in the country and the best chief justice the province has had. He was a man of integrity, said SHC Bar Association secretary Asim Iqbal.

Mamoon was among the five judges of the Supreme Court, who - along with the then Chief Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui - had refused to take oath under Musharraf's 2000 PCO and preferred to go home. His colleagues included Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad and Justice (retd) Kamal Mansoor Alam, both of whom hail from Sindh.

Since his retirement, Mamoon had been living a quiet life in Karachi. In July last year, the opposition leader in the National Assembly had recommended his name as one of the three nominees for the post of the National Accountability Bureau's chairperson.

Mamoon, who died at 78, leaves behind a widow, Rehana Kazi, two daughters and a grandchild, said the late judge's nephew, Khalid Rehman, while talking to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2014.