Hamoodur Rahman

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Former Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman,Pakistan Supreme Court.

Hamoodur Rahman (Urdu: حمود الرحمن) (born November 1, 1910) was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University. Justice Hamoodur Rahman was born in Patna, India. He obtained his graduation from the St. Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta and an LLB from London University, studied in Gray's Inn, London, and was called to the Bar in London in 1937.

Hamoodur Rahman began his career as a lawyer in Calcutta High Court in 1938. He was a councillor of the Calcutta Corporation (1940) and Deputy Mayor of Calcutta (1943). Hamoodur Rahman was a member of the Junior Standing Counsel of the province of Bengal from 1943 to 1947. After the independence of Pakistan he opted for East Pakistan and came to Dhaka in 1948. He was appointed Advocate General of East Pakistan in 1953 and held it till 1954 when he was elevated to the bench as a judge of the Dhaka High Court.

Justice Hamoodur Rahman was a judge of the Dhaka High Court from 1954 to 1960 and vice chancellor of Dhaka University from November 1958 to December 1960. Hamoodur Rahman was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1960, and was made Chief Justice of Pakistan in 1968 and retired in 1976.

Justice Hamoodur Rahman held various dignified positions during his judicial career. He was a member of the International Court of Arbitration (The Hague, 1959-60), chairman of the Commission on Students Problems and Welfare (1964), member of Law Reforms Commission (1967), member of War Enquiry Commission (1972), member of United Nations Committee on Crime Prevention and Control (1972-1973), and chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan (1974-1977). Hamoodur Rahman chose to remain a citizen of Pakistan after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He was made the chairman of the commission for inquiring into the break-up of Pakistan and role of the Pakistan army. His report revealed many aspects of politics in Pakistan army and particularly the atrocities committed by the army during the Civil War of 1971. Because of the nature of the findings it was not declassified for decades until an Indian newspaper published the details.