Peshawar High Court's top judge laid to rest

Lawyers across the country observe a day of mourning on the demise of Justice Seth

The funeral prayers of Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth were offered on Friday in the provincial capital.

Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Mahmood Khan, provincial ministers, corps commander Peshawar, IG K-P, provincial government Spokesperson Kamran Bangash, Ghulam Bilour and Mian Iftikhar Hussain were among those who attended the funeral.

A large number of lawyers and people from all walks of life, including high court judges, were also in attendance. The funeral was conducted as per Covid-19 SOPs and a distance of at least three feet was maintained between the attendees.

Lawyers across the country observed a day of mourning on the demise of Justice Seth on the appeal of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar.

The PHC CJ died due to Covid-19 on Thursday after battling the contagion for 15 days.

He was first admitted to a hospital in Peshawar but later shifted to Kulsum International Hospital in Islamabad where he died due to coronavirus related complications.

Born to a respectable business family of Dera Ismail Khan on March 16, 1961, Justice Seth had been the Chief Justice of PHC since June 28, 2018.

Justice Seth, 59, was known for his bold judgements. He had set aside the conviction of dozens of citizens who were tried in the military courts. He was also attacked a number of times but survived all assassination attempts.

The top judge presided the special court which heard the high treason case against former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and one of the two judges on a three-judge panel who convicted Musharraf for this crime and sentenced him to death. This was the first time in Pakistan's history that a military dictator was convicted for high treason.

Pakistan's legal team had also presented Justice Seth's ruling as evidence before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kulbhushan case.

He was an activist and a big fan of the former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He was known for not charging a fee for labour cases.