Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth has passed away

Taimour Ahmed

Journalist and analyst

November 13, 2020


Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth has died due to corona. According to a statement issued by the Peshawar High Court spokesperson, Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth was suffering from corona and had been undergoing treatment at Kulsoom International, a private hospital in Islamabad, for some time.


Following the trial of former President Pervez Musharraf for treason and serious treason, the judge who sentenced him to death and Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth, who is hearing cases of missing persons in the Peshawar High Court and those convicted by military courts. For about two weeks there was a life-and-death struggle.

Muhammad Asif Advocate, brother-in-law of Waqar Ahmed Seth, told BBC correspondent Azizullah Khan that his condition had improved three days ago but once again his condition deteriorated and he was shifted to ventilator. Couldn't survive.

Muhammad Asif said that Waqar Ahmed Seth's wife also had corona virus but a few days ago his test came negative.

He will be buried in his ancestral graveyard in Peshawar on Friday. He is survived by a widow and a daughter

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and the Peshawar High Court Bar have expressed deep sorrow over the death of Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth.

The Pakistan Bar Council, the largest body of lawyers in Pakistan, has declared a day of mourning for Corona's death, saying only urgent and critical matters will be dealt with in the courts tomorrow, while normal proceedings will be closed. Will remain

Abid Saqi, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, told the BBC's Shehzad Malik: "The judiciary has lost a brave judge who made decisions in the eyes of the most powerful institution in the country. '

He said that lawyers' organizations were trying to make him a judge of the Supreme Court.

It may be recalled that Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court Waqar Ahmed Seth had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court in which it was stated that the junior judges of the Lahore High Court were deprived of their rights by being made judges of the Supreme Court. Has gone

His application, which had been pending for more than four months, was not heard.

Prior to his illness, most of the cases in his court were about missing persons about whom his relatives had not been informed for the past eight to 12 years. He also summoned Defense and Intelligence officials to court to hear a case about recreation centers or detention centers.

Most of the cases in his court have been of important nature and he often listened to the cases in the court with good humor. He sometimes raised tough questions during appeals against missing persons and military court rulings.

Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth was to be promoted as a judge of the Supreme Court and he had also applied for the same. The petition, sent through senior lawyer Qazi Anwar, was addressed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who is also the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Commission. The most important responsibility of this commission is to appoint judges in the High Court as well as to decide on their seniority in the Supreme Court.

The petition alleges that the procedure laid down by the High Court for appointment of a junior judge to the Supreme Court has been rejected.

Waqar Ahmed Seth had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court two days ago in which he had said that his appointment as a judge in the Supreme Court was his right.

Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth was the head of the special court that ruled on former military president Pervez Musharraf.


Who was Waqar Ahmed Seth?


Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth belonged to a middle-class business family in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He was born on March 16, 1961 in DI Khan. He matriculated from Kent Public School Peshawar in 1977 and B.Sc degree from Islamia College Peshawar in 1981.

He obtained his law degree from Khyber Law College in 1985 and his master's degree in political science from the University of Peshawar in 1986.

He started his practice in the Lower Courts in 1985 and began his professional career in the High Court in 1990.

He started practicing law in the Supreme Court in May 2008. He started his duties as Additional Judge in 2011.

During this time he was also a banking judge and a company judge in the Peshawar High Court. He was also a member of the Subordinate Judicial Service Tribunal, Peshawar.

He was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court on June 28, 2018 and was still the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court.

His father, Seth Abdul Wahid, retired as a senior session judge, while his grandfather, Khuda Bakhsh, was a judge in the province's first high court in 1929 before Pakistan was formed.

According to Latif Afridi Advocate, "Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth was an enlightened man from the beginning and he specialized in Labor Laws and Service Laws as well as civil and criminal cases."

According to Latif Afridi, "Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth came to this place with his hard work and speaks his verdict."


Some important decisions of Seth Waqar Ahmed



Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Waqar Ahmed Seth was one of the judges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who has given decisions in very important cases and the lawyers of Peshawar consider these decisions as 'bold' decisions.


Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth paid more attention to the cases of persons who did not have financial status or preferred cases which were usually delayed in the courts.

It may be recalled that while approving the appeals of more than 70 convicts from the military courts, Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth had ruled in favor of all the petitioners against the decisions of the military courts.

In addition, Justice Seth had directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to complete the investigation into the PTI government's major project BRT or Bus Rapid Transit and submit a report within 45 days.


Justice Waqar Seth was also a member of the special court which had sentenced former President Pervez Musharraf to death for violating the constitution. However, after this verdict, the Lahore High Court annulled the formation of the special court.


Following the detailed decision of the special court in the case of unconstitutionality against Pervez Musharraf, a debate had started in the political and legal circles of the country, mainly due to paragraph number 66 of this detailed decision written by Justice Seth.


In paragraph 66, Justice Seth, who presided over the bench, directed the law enforcement agencies to make all possible efforts to arrest and execute General Musharraf and if found dead, his body would be shifted to Islamabad. Bring the square where it will be hung for three days.


However, justifying his order in paragraph 67, he said that since no one had been convicted of the crime in Pakistan in the past and the court had pronounced its verdict in the absence of the culprit, Therefore, if the culprit dies before being convicted, the question arises as to whether the verdict will be implemented or not and how.


Subsequently, on January 13, the Lahore High Court declared the formation of a special court to sentence former President General (R) Pervez Musharraf to death in a serious treason case illegal.


The BBC last year spoke to Latif Afridi Advocate, president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, about some of the key decisions of Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Waqar Ahmed Seth, and he commented on some of Justice Waqar's key decisions. Had expressed


Regarding the decision in favor of the petitioners against the military courts, Latif Afridi says, "Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth ruled on the petitions of those sentenced to death and life imprisonment by the military courts." ' Considered.'


According to Latif Afridi, the decision of Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth on Action in Aid of Civil Powers Regulation 2011 for FATA and PATA is also given importance. A large number of people were detained under the law and were held by the military.


"Waqar Ahmed Seth had ordered the Inspector General of Prisons and the Inspector General of Police to take custody of these centers."


It may be recalled that Justice Waqar Ahmed had restored the human rights cell of former Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan in the Peshawar High Court. Any request in this cell is processed immediately and the petitioner does not have to bear any cost.