A full court reference will be held today (Dec 20) in honor of Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa as he is retiring from his post today. A farewell dinner will also be organized for the outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Notably, Justice Gulzar Ahmed who is the most senior judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan will take charge after justice Khosa’s retirement. It is interesting to note that Justice Khosa has handed down several key verdicts against political and judicial functionaries during his tenure, inviting the ire of many but projecting the apex court as a strong institution.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa took charge of his office on January 18 a day after CJP Justice Saqib Nisar retired on January 17.
Justice Khosa has been a senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan since 31 December 2016.
Justice Khosa was born in Dera Ghazi Khan on 21 December, 1954. He pssed his matriculation examination in 1969 from the Multan Board. He showed up in B.A exmas in 1973 from Government College Lahore at Punjab University and bagged the first position. He completed his Master’s in English language and literature from the University of the Punjab in 1975.
Justice Khosa then went to University of Cambridge’s Queens’ College, acquired a Master’s degree in law with a specialisation in Public International Law. Later he was called to bar on July 26, 1979, at the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London.
He was posted as a judge at the Lahore High Court in May 1998. When on November 3, 2007, former president General (retd.) Musharraf declared emergency dismissed the constitution and demanded the judges of the superior judiciary to retake oaths under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), Justice Khosa refused to abide by the presidential order.
As a result, he was sacked among other SC and HC judges.
On August 18, 2008, Justice Khosa was restored to his position as a High Court judge during an unprecedented mass movement to restore the superior judges who were dismissed for not retaking their oaths under the PCO.
