thumb|[[Supreme Court of Pakistan]]
Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman (; 1 November 1910 – 20 December 1981 In addition, Rahman served as a law professor in the faculty of Karachi University and vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka while remaining active in promoting literacy across the country. After the independence of Bangladesh, Rahman's family retained Pakistan's citizenship, and his son served as the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court.
Chief Justice Rahman remained a respected figure in Pakistan's judiciary, and is hailed for his honesty and patriotism. Senior Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday once publicly noted that "his Commission was the most honourable commission that was investigated by a Bengali Chief Justice, in spite of East-Pakistan disaster." His findings, which exposed the Bangladesh genocide and recommended charges for senior Pakistani officials, were never made public, as the report was muzzled by the Bhutto administration under the guise of harming civil-military relations.
Biography
Early life, background, and education
Hamoodur Rahman was born in Patna, Bihar, British India, on 1 November 1910. Despite being born in Bihar, Rahman hailed from a Bengali Muslim family. Hamoodur Rahman's family practised law before the Partition of India— his brother, Maudoodur Rahman, was also a barrister who ascended as a judge of the Calcutta High Court. His father-in-law, Ashraf Ali Khan Chowdhury, was a barrister who was a practicing advocate in the Calcutta High Court.
Hamoodur Rahman was educated in Calcutta and entered St. Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta, where he secured his BA. He went to Great Britain to attend the University of London, where he graduated with the LLB degree and resumed his studies at Gray's Inn, London, and was called to the Bar in London in 1937.
Upon arriving in British India, Rehman began practicing law at the Calcutta High Court in 1938 and served as the legal councillor of the Calcutta Corporation in 1940. In 1943, he also presented the Mayor of Calcutta as its legal councillor, and was a member of the Junior Standing Counsel of East Bengal from 1943 to 1947. After the independence of Pakistan, he opted for East Pakistan and settled in Dhaka in 1948. Iqbal was also the Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In 2007, his son refused to take an oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by President Pervez Musharraf, who imposed the Emergency in November 2007. After his restoration in 2009, he resumed hearing cases at the Lahore High Court and eventually ascended as Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court in 2013.
Career as Supreme court justice
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Justice Hamoodur Rahman served as a judge of the Dhaka High Court from 1954 until 1960, when he was appointed as Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan by the President of Pakistan. In 1967, he was a member of the "Law Reforms Commission" that conducted the various case studies on land reforms in Pakistan on behalf of the Ministry of Law (MoL)– its report was submitted in 1970 to the President of Pakistan.
Chief Justice of Pakistan
In 1968, Senior Justice Hamoodur Rehman was nominated as Chief Justice by outgoing Chief Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius; his appointment as Chief Justice was approved by President Ayub Khan. The Supreme Court also overruled and overturned its convictions that called for validation of martial law in 1958. In 1970, he supported the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the general elections held in 1970 across the country.
Bangladesh and 1971 war
Hamoodur Rahman remained loyal to Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War and the war with India in 1971. He administered the oath of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as President of Pakistan in 1971 at the Supreme Court building.
After the war
In 1972–73, he went on to work with the United Nations and was a member of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The commission, known as the War Enquiry Commission (or otherwise known as the Hamoodur Rahman Commission), was led by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman as its chairman and consisted of both civilian and military members.
Fact finding and recommendations
From 1971 until 1975, the commission led by Rahman conducted several interviews of Pakistan military's senior officers, bureaucrats, politicians, activists, and the Bengali nationalists. The report recommended a string of courts-martial and military trials against the top senior military officers, including the PAF's Air Marshal Enamul Haq (the AOC of Eastern Air Command of Pakistan Air Force), Vice-Admiral Mohammad Shariff (Fleet Commander of the Eastern Naval Command of Pakistan Navy), and Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan (the GOC of Eastern Army Command of Pakistan Army), and former generals such as Amir Khan Niazi and Rao Farman Ali. In 2000, a portion of the report was leaked equally by the India Today and the Dawn.
Chief Justice Rahman remained very respected in Pakistan's judiciary even after his death, and is hailed for his honesty and patriotism. Senior Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday once publicly noted that "his Commission was the most honorable commission that was investigated by a Bengali Chief Justice, in spite of East-Pakistan disaster", in 2010.