Justice for all: Tributes for judge who refused to bow to dictator

Former SHC chief justice started environmental Green Bench, fought for missing persons.

KARACHI:

Justice Kamal Mansur Alam was one of the six judges of the Supreme Court who refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of 2000, a decision which proved to be a major turning point in the judicial history of the country. On Wednesday, a memorial reference was held in his honour in Islamabad. Justice (retired) Alam passed away on June 22 in Karachi.

“All the decisions he rendered as a judge of the superior courts reflected fairness, impartiality and independence in the true judicial spirit. His legal acumen, in-depth understanding of the law, incorruptibility, fair mindedness and rationality earned him great respect from the bar and bench,” said Chief Justice Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in his address at the memorial reference.

Describing his judgments as “brilliant”, the CJP said that the ones reported in law journals will serve as a beacon of light for judges and lawyers for time to come.

Justice Alam was particularly known for the initiative to create a Green bench to hear environment cases. Before his death, he was working on the development of Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanisms. He also headed the Commission on Enquiry on Enforced Disappearances, which has managed to rescue hundreds of missing people. The commission also laid down the criteria for compensation for the victims.

While he headed the Sindh High Court from 1998 to 1999, he ensured that it worked with a full strength of judges.

Asma Jahangir, who is the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, referred to Alam’s “outright refusal to take oath under the notorious PCO of 2000”, something that “formed the very first drop of dissent in recent history against arbitrary and unconstitutional interference in the independence of the judiciary”.

Attorney General for Pakistan Maulvi Anwar-ul Haq spoke of how Alam was known for his integrity, credibility, nobility and uprightness and also maintained a very high moral standard his entire career.

The vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, Abdul Lateef Afridi, made everyone recall how the decision of Alam and the five other judges to refuse to take oath under the PCO laid the foundation for the lawyers movement in 2007.

Biography

Alam was born on April 23, 1937 in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. He was educated in Allahabad and migrated to Pakistan in 1949. He came from a distinguished line of jurists. His grandfather, the late Khan Bahadur Maqbul Alam was the founding president of the Banaras Bar, the oldest in the subcontinent.

His father was elevated to the bench of the Allahbad High Court, became the advocate general of the then East Pakistan and the first president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association.

Justice (ret’d) Alam taught at SM Law College, became a Sindh High Court judge in 1990 and its chief justice eight years later. He is survived by his widow and two sons, Faisal and Taha, who are both practising advocates.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2011.