JCP approves nomination of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan as new PHC chief justice

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Wednesday approved the nomination of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan as the new chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed presided the meeting of the JCP to consider a nomination for the post which fell vacant after the death of Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth due to coronavirus earlier in November.

Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan was appointed as an additional judge on August 2, 2011, and he took oath as the acting chief justice of PHC on November 16.

He may serve as PHC CJ until March 30, 2023.

In November, Justice Seth (late) was first admitted to a hospital in Peshawar but later shifted to Kulsum International Hospital in Islamabad where he succumbed to coronavirus related complications after battling them for 15 days.

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 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.