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Mian Saqib Nisar | |
|---|---|
.png) Justice Nisar in 2018 | |
| 25thChief Justice of Pakistan | |
| In office 31 December 2016 – 17 January 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Anwar Zaheer Jamali |
| Succeeded by | Asif Saeed Khosa |
| Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan | |
| In office 18 February 2010 – 30 December 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Anwar Zaheer Jamali |
| Succeeded by | Asif Saeed Khosa |
| Justice of the Lahore High Court | |
| In office 22 May 1998 – 17 February 2010 | |
| Law Secretary of Pakistan | |
| In office 29 March 1997 – 12 October 1999 | |
| Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court | |
| In office 22 May 1994 – 21 May 1998 | |
| Secretary General of Lahore High Court Bar Association | |
| In office 1991–1992 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mian Saqib Nisar (1954-01-18)18 January 1954 (age 71) |
| Residence(s) | Lahore,Punjab Pakistan |
| Alma mater | Government College University Punjab University |
| Profession | Advocate |
Mian Saqib Nisar (Urdu:میاں ثاقب نثار; born 18 January 1954) is a Pakistani jurist who served as the 25thChief Justice of Pakistan from 31 December 2016 till 17 January 2019. He was previously the federalLaw Secretary. He was also a visitingprofessor of law at theUniversity of the Punjab, teachingconstitutional law.[1]
Ascended as ajudge of the Supreme Court on 18 February 2010, he was elevated as chief justice when JusticeAnwar Zaheer Jamali reached his constitutionally set retiring age.[2][3]
Nisar was born in 1954 inLahore,West Punjab, into aPunjabi MuslimArain family. His father, Mian Nisar was anadvocate.[4] Nisar was educated at the Cathedral High School no 1 in Lahore where he matriculated and enrolled atGovernment College University (GCU) where he graduated with aB.A. degree in 1977.[5] He later joinedPunjab University Law College where he securedLLB in civil law in 1980.[6] He took active part in co-curricular activities during his study. He was also a part of Law College's debating society.
While being anundergraduate student at theGCU Lahore, he was selected to be a member of the international delegation representing Pakistan inInternational Youth Conference held inTripoli inLibya in 1973.[7]
Soon after his graduation with a law degree, Nisar enrolled as anadvocate and began private practice of law at theDistrict Court in 1980. In 1982, he enrolled as an advocate of theLahore High Court.[8] He practiced law as an advocate for a decade until he enrolled as an advocate Supreme Court in 1992, subsequently relocating toIslamabad.[9] In 1991, he was elected as aSecretary-General of the Lahore High Court bar.[10]
On 29 March 1997, he was appointed as Law Secretary at theMinistry of Justice and Law (MoJL)– a chief bureaucratic position inside the law and justice ministry.[1] His appointment as theLaw Secretary of Pakistan was nominated and confirmed byPrime MinisterNawaz Sharif immediately after being elected ingeneral elections held in 1997.[11] His appointment as a law secretary was noted as the first time in thehistory of the country that someone from the Bar had been appointed to such post.[12]
On 22 May 1998, he was elevated as judge at theLahore High Court after a nomination summary sent by Prime Minister Sharif, only to be confirmed as judge of Lahore High Court by then-PresidentRafiq Tarrar.[12] As a judge in Lahore High Court, he heard and passed judgements on many important cases involving the resolution of disputes on the civil matters,commercial banking disputes, andtax evasions/avoidances.[12]
In 2000, Nisar was among those judges at the Lahore High Court, who when given chance to either resign or accept military provisional constitutional order enacted by Military Dictator General Musharraf, took the oath under the newprovisional constitutional order and was continue to allow hearing cases at theLahore High Court.[13]
Nisar is known for his educational interests in legal education, and is currently tenuring as visiting professor of law at theLaw College of thePunjab University where he provides instructions on the constitutional law and civil law procedure.[14] Nisar attended and represented Pakistan in the international conference on "India and Pakistan at Fifty" held inWilton Park inUnited Kingdom; he also led judicial delegations on conferences held in thePhilippines andSwitzerland.[15]
In 2009, Nisar authored a paper onIslam and democracy and presented the paper to theNorwegian Academy of Science and Letters inOslo,Norway, and offered discussion on the "Role of the Courts in Islamic Democratic Society."[15]
On 13 February 2010, his nomination to be elevated as the justice of theSupreme Court was initially rejected by the then-PresidentAsif Ali Zardari in spite of recommendation made byChief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.[16] President Zardari instead elevated JusticeK.M. Sharif that ultimately supersedes senior-most Justice Nisar for the promotion, appointing the latter as acting Chief Justice of Lahore High Court.[16]
Upon hearing these developments,Chief Justice Chaudhry suspended the appointment order and marked such actions as "unconstitutional", using his constitutional powers granted by theJudicial Commission.[17]
On 19 February 2010, Nisar, was sworn as justice of the Supreme Court.[18]
He was a member of the Supreme Court bench which heard the case against 21st Constitutional Amendment, the amendment which authorized the establishment of military courts to hear terrorism cases after the incident which killed 141 people including 132 children in aschool in Peshawar on 16 December 2014.[19]
He also heard the case wherePakistan Railways's land worth Rs10 billion was allotted toRoyal Palm Golf Club byMusharraf government which federal government ofNawaz Sharif wanted back in 2014.[20]
He headed the bench which heard the case ofJehangir Khan Tareen andImran Khan.
Nisar has been criticized by some notable academics, journalists, and politicians for his judicial activism and over-involvement in the day-to-day affairs of the government.[21][22] In this regard, he has also been described as "an arrogant and somewhat ‘imbalanced’ judge".[23] Nisar is accused of being in alliance with Pakistan's military establishment againstPakistan Muslim League (N),Nawaz Sharif and his government which was ousted in July 2017.[24][25]
Despite Election Commission of Pakistan ordering to provide security to all candidates contesting the General Elections 2018, he ordered removal of security[26] from all non-government but high profile politicians, most of who had been part of the previous governments which included PML(N) and JUI politicians. Some of them had been under threat from terrorists includingTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan andLashkar-e-Jhangvi. This was seen by many political parties as political victimization. Their claim was further strengthened when a leader of ANP,Haroon Bilour, was killed by suicide bomber on 10 July 2018 in Peshawar during election campaign.[27]Siraj Raisani and 127 others were killed in another suicide bombing on 13 July 2018.[28]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | 25thChief Justice of Pakistan December 2016 – January 2019 | Succeeded by |
