A 78-year-old former chief justice of Pakistan has been made the 31st governor of Sindh, ending the 14-year tenure of Dr Ishrat Ul Ebad as the longest-serving representative of Islamabad in the province. Justice (retired) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui is an interesting choice as he can be seen as close to the heart of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz because of daring and controversial decisions he has made in the past.
Siddiqui was born to an educated middle-class, Urdu-speaking family on December 1, 1937. He went to school in Lucknow, India. He completed his intermediate schooling in engineering sciences from the University of Dhaka in 1952, where he also taught undergraduate physics laboratory courses. Two years later he moved to Karachi, where he did his bachelors in Philosophy and then an LLB from the University of Karachi in 1958.
After joining the bar in 1961 he practiced in both East and West Pakistan. In May 1980, Siddiqui was elevated as judge of the Sindh High Court, and he was made its chief justice in November 1990.
Siddiqui was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on May 23, 1992.
Lawyers say Justice Siddiqui headed a two-judge bench of the apex court in Quetta, which had held in abeyance the appointment of then chief justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah. Subsequently, CJ Shah was removed after his fellow judges declared that his appointment violated the rules of seniority.
Observers say CJ Shah’s removal was the outcome of his confrontation with the PML-N government, as he was the only judge who dissented with the judgment of a 10-member SC bench, which had restored Nawaz Sharif’s first government ended by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
“This role made him [Siddiqui] controversial in the judicial history of the country,” remarked a senior lawyer, who did not wish to be named as he is in government service. “He somehow facilitated the judicial coup,” the lawyer added. Siddiqui has, however, refuted this view of the matter, saying these were decisions of the judges of the Supreme Court.
Siddiqui was appointed the fifteenth chief justice of the country on July 1, 1999 to face the wrath of its military dictator three months later. Then army chief, General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, took over on October 12, 1999 and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in 2007, which declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution. All high court and Supreme Court judges were told to take oath under this new law and those who did not comply were placed under house arrest. Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui was one of the 100 or so judges who refused to take oath under the PCO, declaring it a deviation from the oath taken under the Constitution and a negation of the independence of the judiciary.
As news of his resignation spread, Justice Siddiqui was awarded honorary membership of the judicial fraternity of Australia and Canada in January 2000. He also received a letter of commendation from the judiciary of the United Kingdom and the United States Supreme Court for his stand in the cause of the Pakistan’s judiciary.
Since his removal, Siddiqui led a quiet life far from the public eye, until 2008 when the PML-N and the Jamaat-e-Islami jointly fielded him as a presidential candidate following General Musharraf’s resignation under pressure of impeachment. It so happens that history favoured the Pakistan Peoples Party at this moment in time and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was made president. It had been barely a year after Benazir’s assassination.
One advantage of choosing Siddiqui as governor is that it can be perceived as the PML-N or Punjabi ruling party giving representation to the Urdu-speaking community in Sindh, where the chief minister is Sindhi-speaking. Critics have questioned the choice as Justice (retired) Siddiqui is 78 years old. Indeed, he fell ill shortly after taking oath and was hospitalised.
Siddiqui was born to an educated middle-class, Urdu-speaking family on December 1, 1937. He went to school in Lucknow, India. He completed his intermediate schooling in engineering sciences from the University of Dhaka in 1952, where he also taught undergraduate physics laboratory courses. Two years later he moved to Karachi, where he did his bachelors in Philosophy and then an LLB from the University of Karachi in 1958.
After joining the bar in 1961 he practiced in both East and West Pakistan. In May 1980, Siddiqui was elevated as judge of the Sindh High Court, and he was made its chief justice in November 1990.
Siddiqui was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on May 23, 1992.
Lawyers say Justice Siddiqui headed a two-judge bench of the apex court in Quetta, which had held in abeyance the appointment of then chief justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah. Subsequently, CJ Shah was removed after his fellow judges declared that his appointment violated the rules of seniority.
Observers say CJ Shah’s removal was the outcome of his confrontation with the PML-N government, as he was the only judge who dissented with the judgment of a 10-member SC bench, which had restored Nawaz Sharif’s first government ended by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
“This role made him [Siddiqui] controversial in the judicial history of the country,” remarked a senior lawyer, who did not wish to be named as he is in government service. “He somehow facilitated the judicial coup,” the lawyer added. Siddiqui has, however, refuted this view of the matter, saying these were decisions of the judges of the Supreme Court.
Siddiqui was appointed the fifteenth chief justice of the country on July 1, 1999 to face the wrath of its military dictator three months later. Then army chief, General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, took over on October 12, 1999 and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in 2007, which declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution. All high court and Supreme Court judges were told to take oath under this new law and those who did not comply were placed under house arrest. Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui was one of the 100 or so judges who refused to take oath under the PCO, declaring it a deviation from the oath taken under the Constitution and a negation of the independence of the judiciary.
As news of his resignation spread, Justice Siddiqui was awarded honorary membership of the judicial fraternity of Australia and Canada in January 2000. He also received a letter of commendation from the judiciary of the United Kingdom and the United States Supreme Court for his stand in the cause of the Pakistan’s judiciary.
Since his removal, Siddiqui led a quiet life far from the public eye, until 2008 when the PML-N and the Jamaat-e-Islami jointly fielded him as a presidential candidate following General Musharraf’s resignation under pressure of impeachment. It so happens that history favoured the Pakistan Peoples Party at this moment in time and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was made president. It had been barely a year after Benazir’s assassination.
One advantage of choosing Siddiqui as governor is that it can be perceived as the PML-N or Punjabi ruling party giving representation to the Urdu-speaking community in Sindh, where the chief minister is Sindhi-speaking. Critics have questioned the choice as Justice (retired) Siddiqui is 78 years old. Indeed, he fell ill shortly after taking oath and was hospitalised.