Amnesty List: Who were the judges who brought the Kashmir High Court to number one?

When the case related to the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan was filed and scheduled for hearing in the High Court of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Benazir Bhutto’s government and the Pakistani establishment did not take it very seriously. However, on March 8, 1993, when Justice A three-member bench headed by Majeed Malik announced the decision to return the administrative control of the region to the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Although the decision could not be implemented and was suspended on technical grounds by the Supreme Court of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the decision provided a framework for the constitutional status of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and the nature of its relationship with the state of Pakistan. It sparked a new debate, which continues to this day.

Today, when this historic decision has completed 29 years, Justice Majeed Malik, who delivered this decision, passed away in Mirpur recently. Justice (retired) Abdul Majeed Malik, who was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Pakistan-administered Kashmir for many years, died on March 1 at the age of 89.

His funeral prayers were offered at the Quaid-e-Azam Stadium in Mirpur and his burial took place in his family graveyard in Sector B-2 of Mirpur city.

According to family sources, he was suffering from Corona (Corona) and some other diseases since two weeks before his death and he was shifted back home from the hospital a day before his death.

He is survived by three sons and six daughters. One of his sons, Shaukat Majeed Malik, has retired as a secretary in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Decision on the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan

Justice Majeed Malik was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Pakistan-administered Kashmir in 1974. During his career, Justice Malik decided a number of important cases, including decisions related to the political and historical nature and importance of Kashmir, but he is most famous for the decision in which he determined the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The manner in which the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan and its relationship with Kashmir conflict were openly discussed in the case filed by Muhammad Maskin, a resident of Tangir, Gilgit-Baltistan, who later became the Speaker of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. She never could before or since.

In this historic case, the position of the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir regarding Gilgit-Baltistan also came out openly and the court included it in its decision and made it part of the record.

Besides Chief Justice Majeed Malik, Justice Khawaja Saeed and Justice Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry were also included in the bench hearing this case.

After a long hearing, Justice Malik wrote in his judgment that the Karachi Agreement of April 28, 1949 between the Government of Pakistan and the Interim ‘Revolutionary’ Government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir was a ‘temporary’ arrangement and was now ‘ineffective’. It’s done.

Gilgit-Baltistan is part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Government of Pakistan should recognize it and return its administrative control to the Government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The judgment further stated that the separation of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Northern Territories (Gilgit-Baltistan) is a violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions of 30 March 1951 and 24 January 1957.

Under his supervision, the status of the state is not determined through a referendum in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in a free, transparent and democratic manner.

In this decision, the court ordered to restore the state subject law in Gilgit-Baltistan in its original form and obliged the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir to take administrative control of Gilgit-Baltistan from the government of Pakistan and extend its administrative sphere to these areas. increase

In addition to representation in the Assembly and Judiciary of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, its citizens should be given all the rights, including quota in jobs, that citizens of Pakistan-administered Kashmir are entitled to under the Interim Constitution.

In the recently published autobiography of Justice Majeed Malik, he wrote that when this decision came out on March 8, 1993, the governments of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir were shocked. The national and international media widely publicized this decision and Kashmir became recognized at the global level.

In the same year, Amnesty International placed the Pakistan-administered High Court of Kashir at number one in its list compiled regarding the restoration of human rights and personal freedom.

Justice Malik further wrote in his book that the then prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, was very angry at this decision and the establishment of Pakistan was making her believe that now Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir will leave our hands. . Benazir Bhutto ordered her Law Minister Iqbal Haider to annul the decision at all costs.

As a result, the governments of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir filed appeals against this decision in the Supreme Court of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The Supreme Court did not disagree with the content of this decision, however, this decision was canceled on the basis that Pakistan-administered Kashmir does not have the authority to hear any case related to Gilgit-Baltistan.

Propagation of the unity of the state

After his retirement from the High Court, Justice Malik again became active in politics and joined the Liberation League of former President of Pakistan-administered Kashmir Khurshid-ul-Hasan Khurshid (KH Khurshid) and became its head. This party is demanding the restoration of the identity and unity of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and is against any division of Kashmir.

Justice Malik himself dedicated his entire life to this cause. He has been a staunch critic of Pakistan’s decision to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province, calling it tantamount to Pakistan’s endorsement of India’s August 5, 2019 move.

Justice Malik established a think tank named ‘Jammu and Kashmir Intellectual Forum’ and from its platform engaged in research, writing and discussion on various dimensions of the Kashmir conflict. He participated in discussions and conferences on Kashmir in many countries of the world, including India, Kashmir under Indian control.

Early life

According to his recently published autobiography, Justice Majeed Malik was born on September 16, 1932 in Old Dodial City. This area has now come under Mangala Dam.

After receiving his primary education from Dodial and Mirpur, apart from the famous Gordon College in Rawalpindi, he also worked as a teacher in the government school of Dodial for some time and later moved to Lahore where he pursued higher education in law.

Majeed Malik was active in politics since his student days and was involved in the Jammu and Kashmir Students Federation. In 1956, he formally started practicing law in Lahore and then moved to Mirpur.

When the construction of Mangala Dam started, his ancestral house was submerged. Then Majeed Malik’s family moved to the newly settled city of Mirpur and still resides there.