Transitions: Former PHC judge passes away

Shah Jehan served at high court for nearly 15 years

PESHAWAR: Former Peshawar High Court judge and Qaumi Watan Party leader Shah Jehan Khan Yousafzai passed away on Saturday morning.

He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Mardan.

Hailing from a middle income but progressive family, Shah Jehan was born on April 3, 1950 in Mardan. He attended school in his hometown and later graduated with a law degree from Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar in 1971.

He started practicing law with the West Pakistan Bar Council and by 1986 he was pursuing both civil and criminal cases at the high court. Shah Jehan also remained the additional advocate general in 1995 from where he was elevated as a PHC additional judge. He was promoted as a judge in 1998 and in a short span of time, served as the acting chief justice as many as 11 times. He also served as a Gomal University syndicate member.

Although Shah Jehan took oath as a PHC judge under the Provisional Constitution Order of former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on January 26, 2000, he refused the offer when the November 3, 2007 PCO was rolled out.

He was known among his colleagues for his disciplined personality and exemplary professional conduct. Jehan remained a high court judge for nearly 15 years – a feat achieved by none in our part of the world since 1901.

In 2011, Shah Jehan had resigned from his PHC position to protest against what he called was “the elevation of junior judges to senior posts and the ignorance shown towards his seniority.” He held a news conference and hit out at the then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, accusing him of bias.

Shah Jehan also served as a political activist.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2015.