Respected jurist: Judge who granted bail to ZAB dies

Khwaja MA Samdani chose retirement over support for unconstitutional measures.

BUNER:

Justice (retd) Khwaja Muhammad Ahmad Samdani, a highly respected jurist, passed away here on Thursday after a protracted illness. He was 81.

Being an upright judge, he did not countenance pressure from the ruling class, a notable example of which emerged when he, as a Lahore High Court judge, granted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto bail in the Nawab Muhammad Ahmad murder case, much to the chagrin of military ruler General Ziaul Haq.

According to his autobiography reviewed by Dawn newspaper, when he contested the elections for the president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, a majority of the lawyers belonging to the Peoples Party rallied round him as they thought he had granted their leader bail.

In April 1980, when Justice Samdani was working as federal law secretary, Ziaul Haq used derogatory language against the secretaries. Samdani could not keep mum as he too verbally attacked army men in the presence of General Zia. This, according to the book review, created an embarrassing situation for the president’s cronies as they exerted their full pressure on Samdani to seek apology from Zia. But as he believed that he had done nothing wrong, he did not do so.

He sought retirement in 1981 as he refused to take a fresh oath which contained some unconstitutional clauses.

His funeral prayers were offered at Pir Baba village, Qadirnagar and laid to rest there.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2013.