ISLAMABAD: A man of principles, retired Justice Ali Nawaz Chohan died of cardiac arrest at the age of around 77 on Sunday.

The deceased’s son, Barrister Qasim Ali Chohan, told Dawn that his father was in good health. On Sunday morning, he suffered a cardiac arrest at his residence at Rawal Road Chaklala and was taken to Shifa International Hospital but could not survive.

Justice Chohan is survived by his widow, sons Qasim Ali Chohan, Hashim Ali Chohan and daughter Maria Haider. His funeral will be held on Monday (today) at 5:30pm after Asr prayers near Gulbarg Town at Dhoke Khabba graveyard.

Last year, President Dr Arif Alvi had approved the appointment of Justice Chohan as the honorary consul of the Republic of Gambia in Islamabad. The president had approved the appointment after then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari recommended his name. Justice Chohan had served as the chief justice of Gambia from March 6, 2014 to May 12, 2015.

In 2015, he was appointed as the chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR).

He stepped down from the highest judicial slot in Gambia after developing differences with Gambian President Yahya Jammeh for acquitting the country’s former naval chief Sarjo Fofana in a treason case. Mr Fofana was a co-accused in planning a coup against the Jammeh regime, and had been under arrest since 2006. In the same case, Justice Chohan, hearing an appeal against the conviction of former Gambian army chief Lang Tombong Tamba, upheld the latter’s conviction which had been announced by the high court in 2013.

“Since the Gambian government was not happy with the decision, I therefore decided to step down because I could not work in such an environment,” Justice Chohan had told Dawn in 2015.

Prior to his elevation as the chief justice of Gambia in March 2014, he had been elected as an international judge of the United Nations by the General Assembly and worked as such for the UN at The Hague between 2006 and 2009 with the diplomatic status of under-secretary general of the UN.

He remained a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a body of the UN established to prosecute serious crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal is an ad hoc court located in The Hague.

In Pakistan, Justice Chohan worked as consultant to former president Asif Ali Zardari on administrative and international law. He was also a visiting professor of law and a Thomas Jefferson fellow.

Justice Chohan was born in Rawalpindi. His father Mola Dad Chohan was the first Muslim mayor of the city, taking up charge in pre-partition times and keeping his position till October 1958 when Field Martial Ayub Khan imposed martial law. Mola Dad Chohan was the first resident of Rawalpindi to purchase a car in the 1920s. He was allotted the vehicle registration number Rawalpindi-I. The car and the number is still a property of the Chohan family.

Justice Chohan’s grandfather Chaudhry Waris Khan Chohan was the vice president of Rawalpindi municipality during the British era. A famous marketplace, Waris Khan is named after him. It is in the centre of Rawalpindi city.

Justice Chohan did his BA and LLB from the University of the Punjab with a diploma in Sharia and law from the International Islamic University in Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, he went for training in international and administrative law to Columbia University in the US.

He started his judicial career as a district judge in 1977 and worked in various districts across the country, including Islamabad. Later, he was elevated as a judge of the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench where he served from 1999 to 2005.

He also held the positions of secretary law and parliamentary affairs (Punjab) and chairman Punjab Services Tribunal, Lahore. He also served as a judge in the Lahore High Court from 1998 to 2006 till he was elevated as a judge in the ICTY.

The name of Justice Chohan was proposed for the position of NCHR chairman in February 2015. A parliamentary committee on the NCHR gave the approval for the body’s head along with one member from each province and minorities. Other individuals in the race to become the chairman of the NCHR were retired Justice Mehta Kailash Nath Kohli and Rehana Bibi Khilji.

However, because of his “controversial” decisions and suo motu notices against powers that be, Justice Chohan was not considered again as NCHR chairman. In fact, rules for appointment were changed due to which he became overage. He approached Islamabad High Court, but could not get a decision in his favour.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2023