Justice Karim Khan Agha to head constitutional bench of SHC

ISLAMABAD: The third meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Monday nominated by majority Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha to head the nine-judge constitutional bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC), established under the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The meeting was held in the Supreme Court building, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, who is also the chairman of JCP, to consider a single-point agenda on the formation of constitutional benches.

Other members of the Sindh High Court constitutional bench nominated were Justice Salim Jessar, Justice Omar Sial, Justice Yousaf Ali Sayeed, Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, Justice Zulfikar Ali Sangi, Justice Ms Sana Akram Minhas, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Arbab Ali Hakro.

The decision to set up the nine-judge constitutional bench of SHC was made with a majority of 11 to four. Both members of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) Omar Ayub, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly as well as Leader of the House in the Senate, Shibli Faraz, could not make it to the meeting. The meeting even waited for the two members for two hours but since their mobile phones were switched off, the JCP decided to commence the proceedings.

In absence of both PTI members Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz, JCP in a majority decision okays nine-judge bench

The present meeting was expected after two weeks (Nov 25) to nominate judges of the Sindh High Court to become members of the constitutional bench in the high court.

Monday’s meeting was held in line with earlier resolution approved by the Sindh Assembly for the formation of the constitutional bench in the province with a simple majority under Article 202-A of the newly passed 26th Amendment.

The meeting was attended by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, via video link, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Chief Justice of SHC Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, senior puisne judge of SHC Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek; Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Member of the National Assembly; Ms Roshan Khurshid Barucha, Sindh Law Minister Zia ul Hassan Lanjar, Senior member of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Akhtar Hussain and Sindh Bar Council member Qurban Ali Malano.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, however, dissented whereas CJP chose to abstain from voting.

According to the public announcement, JCP after an extensive and thoughtful exchange of views, considered the formation of the constitutional benches in the SHC and approved nine judges with a majority of 11 to four. The constitutional bench will function for two months.

Justice K.K. Agha has done LLB (Hons) from Birmingham University (UK) and had passed the Law Society Solicitors Finals Examination from Guildford College of Law.

Justice Agha commenced his legal career in 1987 at London Law firm Cameron Markby as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. His main practice areas were investment property and secured lending.

On his return to Pakistan Justice Agha was enrolled as an advocate of SHC and entered private practice with his main practice areas being banking, customs and criminal law and served for a brief period as the country’s legal counsel for Citibank NA Pakistan. He was later called to the Bar from Lincolns Inn, London.

Justice Agha was also appointed as a prosecutor at the United Nations (UN) International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) based in The Hague.

Whilst at the ICTY the judge was involved in some notable prosecutions for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the 1990’s Balkans conflict including the prosecution of the former President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic.

At The Hague, Justice Agha also graduated from Leiden University with an LLM in Public International Law, with Specialisation in International Criminal law.

After serving at the ICTY his Lordship was appointed to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to lead the prosecution of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity during their overthrow of the then Sierra Leonean government.

Justice Agha was later appointed a senior Appeals Counsel in the AFRC and Civil Defence Force (CDF) appeals and assisted in drafting the Indictment of Charles Taylor the former President of Liberia who was later convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024