Sheikh Anwarul Haq

Sheikh Anwarul Haq شیخ انوار الحق


Chief Justice of Pakistan
In office 23 September 1977 – 25 March 1981
Appointed by	Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry
Preceded by	Muhammad Yaqub Ali
Succeeded by	Mohammad Haleem
Personal details
Born	(1917-05-11)11 May 1917 Jullundur, British Raj (now India)
Died	3 March 1995(1995-03-03) (aged 77) Lahore, Pakistan
Alma mater	Kanpur University University of the Punjab

Sheikh Anwarul Haq (Urdu: شیخ انوار الحق‎‎ ; 11 May 1917 – 3 March 1995) was a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (23 September 1977 – 25 March 1981). He is considered "ill-famed" by some for giving legitimacy to General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's martial law and for upholding the Lahore High Court decision sentencing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to death for authorizing the murder of a political opponent. On 25 March 1981, Haq became the first Justice and only Chief Justice to refuse to take the oath under the military imposed PCO, resigning on conscientious grounds (see resignation letter, below right).

Born on 11 May 1917 in Jullundur, British Raj (now Jalandhar, India), Haq received early education in Wazirabad and Jullundur, passing his Matriculation Examination from the Government High School, Jalandhar, in 1932. He ranked first in his school and secured a scholarship. He graduated from D.A.V. College, Jullundur in 1936 with Economics and Political Science as his majors. He was awarded two scholarships and chose to attend Islamia College (Lahore), where he earned a master's degree in Economics. He ranked first in the 1938 M.A. (Economics) Examination at Punjab University, setting a new record in that subject. Haq participated in a large number of declamation contests and prize debates and was often judged as the best speaker.

In 1936–38, Haq took active interest in the formation of the All India Muslim Students Federation, and was a keen advocate of the assertion of the separate identity of Muslims. He attended the All-India Muslim League meeting in Calcutta in December 1937 as a student delegate.

Selected for the Indian Civil Service as a result of competitive examination held in 1939, Haq received a year of training at Oxford. Upon his return to India in November 1940, he was appointed Assistant Commissioner at Ferozepur. He later served at Simla, Gurgaon, and Hissar (in East Punjab), and held various posts in central and provincial government as follows:

Temporal Order	Name of Post	From	To
1	Secretary to the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province Public Service Commission. Secretary to Government of Punjab, Pakistan, Medical & Local Government Department	22 February 1944	29 February 1944
2	Under-Secretary to Government of Punjab, Pakistan Revenue Department, Lahore	1 March 1944	1 May 1944
3	Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Dalhousie, India	2 May 1944
4	Special Sub-Judge at Lahore for Judicial training	9 November 1944
5	Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Dalhousie	28 May 1945
6	Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, India	June 1945	July 1945
7	District and Sessions Judge, Gurdaspur	3 November 1945
8	Assistant Commissioner, Gurdaspur	23 February 1946
9	Deputy Commissioner, Hisar, India	27 March 1946
10	Secretary to the Partition Steering Committee for Punjab, Pakistan	9 July 1947
11	Deputy Commissioner, Rawalpindi, Pakistan	8 August 1947
12	Deputy Commissioner, Montgomery (now Sahiwal), Pakistan	October 1948
13	Deputy Commissioner, Sialkot	April 1950
14	Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of Pakistan, Rawalpindi	January 1952	December 1954
15	Training at Imperial Defence College (IDC), London	January 1955	December 1955
16	Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of Pakistan, Karachi	August 1956
17	Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of Pakistan, Karachi	August 1956
18	District and Sessions Judge, Karachi	February 1957
19	District and Sessions Judge, Lahore	June 1958
20	Additional Judge, High Court of West Pakistan, Lahore	24 October 1959
21	Permanent Judge, High Court of West Pakistan, Lahore	24 October 1962
22	Member of the Law Reforms Commission	May 1967
23	Acting leader of the legal expert delegation to the Republic of Somalia	July 1969
24	Chief Justice Lahore High Court, Lahore, on dismemberment of One Unit	1 July 1970
25	Judge, Supreme Court of Pakistan	16 October 1972
26	Chief Justice of Pakistan	23 September 1977	25 March 1981
27	Acting President of Pakistan	20 April 1978	7 May 1978

Haq attended the Third Commonwealth and Empire Law Conference in Sydney, Australia in August–September 1965 as leader of the Pakistan delegation. He was interested in academic and educational activities and had been a member of the Syndicates of:

Punjab University
University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
Agricultural University of Lyallpur (now Faisalabad)
Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad

Haq was President of the Himayat-i-Islam Law College, Lahore, and member of the University Law College, Lahore committee for several years. He was acting Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University on multiple occasions. He was appointed as a member of the 1971 War Inquiry Commission from January 1972 to November 1974 along with CJ Hamoodur Rahman. He was also appointed as Chairman of the National Pay Commission and Armed Forces Pay Commission in January 1976. He represented the Pakistan Supreme Court at the centenary celebrations of the Supreme Court of Ghana at Accra in October 1976. He was appointed Chairman of the Commission on the Indus River System in September 1977. He was appointed Chairman of the Civil Services Commission in February 1978. He had been President of the British Universities Alumni Association, Lahore since 1962. He was a guest speaker at a large number of social, intellectual, and cultural functions in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Karachi.

Sheikh Anwarul Haq

See also