Chief Justice Rahman remained a respected figure in Pakistan's judiciary, and is hailed for his honesty and patriotism that Senior Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday once publicly noted that "his Commission was the most honourable commission that was investigated by a Bengali Chief Justice, in spite of East-Pakistan disaster."[4] His findings, which exposed the Bangladesh genocide and recommended charges for senior Pakistani officials, were never made public as the report was muzzled by the Bhutto administration under the guise of harming civil-military relations.
Hamoodur Rahman was born in Patna, Bihar, British India on 1 November 1910. Despite being born in Bihar, Rahman hailed from a Bengali Muslim family.[5] Hamoodur Rahman's family practised law before the Partition of India— his brother, Maudoodur Rahman, was also a barrister who ascended as a Judge of Calcutta High Court.[6] His father, Khan Bahadur Dr. Dawood ur Rahman was the first Muslim civil surgeon in undivided India to do FRCS form Royal College London. He was the personal surgeon to the Emir of Kuwait.[7] His father in law, Ashraf Ali Khan Chowdhury was a barrister who was a practicing advocate in the Calcutta High Court.[6] Ashraf Ali later participated in general elections held in 1930 and was a member of Bengal Legislative Assembly.[6] Ali later served as deputy speaker of the Bengal Legislative Assembly before the Partition of India.[6]
During his career as Senior Justice at the Supreme Court, Rehman held various dignified positions and engaged himself in promoting literacy across the country. From 1959 to 1960, he was a member of International Court of Arbitration that is based in the Hague, Netherlands.[6] In 1964, Rehman, upon requested by the Ministry of Education (MoEd), led the "Commission on Students Problems and Welfare" as its chairman where he authored the report and submitted the case study recommendations to the Government of Pakistan in 1966.[11] In 1967, he was the member of the "Law Reforms Commission" that conducted the various case studies on land reforms in Pakistan on behalf of Ministry of Law (MoL)– its report was submitted in 1970 to the President of Pakistan.[12]
In 1968, Senior Justice Hamoodur Rehman was nominated as Chief Justice by outgoing Chief Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius; his appointment as Chief Justice was approved by President Ayub Khan.[13] His tenure witnessed the resignation of President Ayub Khan who invited Yahya Khan to take over the country through enforcing the martial law in 1969. He heard the petition filed by Asma Jillani against Yahya Khan's takeover in case known as "Asma Jillani vs. Government of the Punjab."[13] Upon hearing the case, Hamoodur Rahman court retroactively invalidated the martial law that suspended the Constitution and notably ruled that Yahya Khan's assumption of power was "illegal usurpation".[13] The Supreme Court also over-ruled and overturned its convictions that called for validation of martial law in 1958.[13]
Chief Justice Hamoodur Rehman carefully distinguish the meaning of martial law in terms of controlling the internal disorder and imposing the martial law in alien territory.[13] His stance stood firm against Yahya Khan's martial law but condone such actions by the application of doctrine of necessity.[14] In 1970, he supported the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the general elections held in 1970 across the country.[15]
Initially, Chief Justice Rahman was tasked to investigate the causes and the break-up of Pakistan, and role of the Pakistan Armed Forces in the national politics.[18] Because of the nature of the findings, it was not declassified for decades until Indian newspapers, later Pakistani newspapers, published the details.[16]
Fact finding and recommendations
From 1971 until 1975, the Commission led by Rahman conducted several interviews of Pakistan military's senior officers, bureaucrats, politicians, activists, and the Bengali nationalists.[18] Criticism on the government and misconduct of civilian politicians were very heavy and intense, therefore, the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report was never made it public in Pakistan and concealed all of its information as the report was marked as "Top secret".[18]
Despite recommending field courts-martial by the commission, there were no actions taken by Prime Minister Bhutto or the successive governments.[20] Nearly 300 individuals were interviewed and hundreds of classified armed forces military signals were examined, with the final comprehensive report was submitted on 23 October 1974 by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman who submitted the report to Prime minister Secretariat.[citation needed]
Rehman on "Separation"
Originally, the commission was to overlook the military failure to prevent the break–up of Eastern Pakistan but Chief Justice Rahman went into great depths in the roots of matter since the independence of Pakistan in 1947. A separate chapter on the political history of Pakistan was very detailed oriented and written by Chief Justice Rahman who critically opined on the political role of Zulfikar Bhutto. Rahman critically opined on Bhutto and, with some degree, implicated Bhutto of manipulating President Yahya Khan to take the military action as a solution.
He noted that President Yahya Khan failed to seek a sincere political settlement with East Pakistan.[20] Though the responsibility of the debacle lay on the shoulders of the people in power then as was recommended in the report by Chief Justice Rahman.[19]
When the report was submitted the then Prime Minister Bhutto, the Prime minister wrote to the chairman War Enquiry Commission Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, that the commission has exceeded its limits. The commission was appointed to look into the military "aspect of debacle", not the aspect of political failure; therefore, Bhutto classified the publications of the commission and marked its report as "Top Secret".[citation needed]
In the 1990s, it was revealed through investigative journalism by News International that the report was suppressed and was held secretly at the Joint staff HQ in Rawalpindi.[21] In 2000, portion of the report was leaked equally by the India Today and the Dawn.[21] However, the India Today willfully suppressed its own publications as if the surrender was its own scandal.[21]
Death and legacy
Hamoodur Rahman lived a very quiet life in Lahore and remained active in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was appointed the Chairman of Islamic Ideology after his retirement for 3 years, later he was appointed as an advisor to the President of Pakistan on constitutional affairs. He also conducted a commission on election reforms and proposed the proportional representation system existing in Germany, Sri Lanka and many other countries. In which it can be accessed via the library to publish judicial supplements. He died in Lahore due to a cardiac arrest on 20 December 1981. He was buried in Lahore with close judicial associates and friends attending his funeral.[1]
Chief Justice Rahman remained very respected in Pakistan's judiciary even after his death, and is hailed for his honesty and patriotism that Senior Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday once publicly noted that "his Commission was the most honorable commission that was investigated by a Bengali Chief Justice, in spite of East-Pakistan disaster", in 2010.[4]
^Welfare, Pakistan Commission on Student Problems and; Education, Pakistan Ministry of (1966). Commission on Student Problems and Welfare. Manager of Publications. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
^Commission, Pakistan Law Reform; Rahman, Hamoodur; Division, Pakistan Law (1970). Report, 1967–70:Law Reform Commission. Manager of Publications, Law reforms. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
^Pakistan Directorate General of Films and Publication. Pakistan chronology, 1947–1997: with prologue and afterword. Government of Pakistan, Directorate General of Films and Publications, Ministry of Information and Media Development. pp. 369–380.
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