PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court’s former chief justice Tariq Parvez Khan passed away here on Saturday. He was 72.

Funeral of the deceased, who had also served as caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2013, was held on Shami Road here largely attended by judges, lawyers and friends.

PHC Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and other judges expressed deep sorrow and grief over the sad demise of Justice Tariq Parvez, who had retired as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

They extended their heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and prayed to Almighty to shower his blessings upon the departed soul and give patience to the aggrieved to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity.

Late Tariq Parvez was the PHC chief justice when former president Gen retired Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency on Nov 3, 2007, in the country, but he declined to take fresh oath under the Provisional Constitution Order, 2007. He remained deposed till Sept 2008 when he was again restored as chief justice by the then government of Pakistan Peoples Party.

The deceased also remained SC judge, caretaker chief minister

The deceased enjoyed respect among the legal circles and had earned fame when he had stood with former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry when a reference was filed against him in March 2007. He was the first chief justice of a high court to have attended a reference organised by the Peshawar High Court Bar Association where the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was the key speaker.

Justice Tariq Pervez was born in Peshawar on Feb 15, 1948, and was considered a competent lawyer and well-versed in different fields of law, especially criminal jurisprudence.

The deceased had served as president of PHC Bar Association in 1996. He was appointed as chief justice of the high court on April 5, 2005, and elevated to the Supreme Court in Oct 2009. He retired from that post on Feb 14, 2013.

Subsequently, he was appointed caretaker chief minister during the 2013 general elections.

Later on, Justice Tariq Pervez was appointed as ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court for a year in Dec 2015.

The deceased had graduated in law in 1971 from the University of Peshawar and did his masters in political science in 1975 from the same varsity.

He was enrolled as advocate at the district courts of Peshawar in 1972 and subsequently that of the high court in 1975.He was enrolled as advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1983.

During his stint as a judge of the PHC, he remained member of the high court’s administrative committee, member of the Peshawar University Syndicate, chairman of KP (then NWFP) Bar Council’s enrolment committee, a member of the election tribunal and chairman of the subordinate judicial services tribunal.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2020