Zubair Qureshi
The first Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and former Attorney General (AG) Sardar Muhammad Aslam passed away on Monday due to coronavirus. He was admitted to the Military Hospital of Rawalpindi a week ago after developing symptoms of Covid-19, however, his condition deteriorated and he breathed his last yesterday. He was laid to rest in his ancestral village in Kahota.
The funeral prayers were attended by among others Chief Justice of the IHC Athar Minallah, judges of the IHC, LHC, lawyers of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, High Courts, office-bearers of the IHC Bar, Islamabad District Bar, Pindi District Bar, LHC (Pindi) Bar, LHC Bar, SCBA, Punjab Bar, friends and family members.
Justice Sardar Aslam, 74, is survived by two sons and two daughters. During his 47-year long illustrious career, Justice Sardar Aslam practiced as lawyer in Rawalpindi District and remained its president also. He was also elected as President of the LHBA (Rawalpindi) and in 2001 as Attorney General of Pakistan.
In 2003, he was appointed as the judge of Lahore High Court and after establishment of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) he was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the court in 2008.
Later, he was elevated to the Supreme Court as judge but after restoration of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, he was among the ten judges of the Supreme Court who lost the office.
As a lawyer and as a jurist, Justice Sardar Aslam was rated among the top lawyers of Pakistan. According to senior advocate of Supreme Court Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Sardar Asalm was a role model for many young lawyers including him. He was an upright man and highly professional lawyer, said Tariq Jahangiri while talking to Pakistan Observer and remembering his mentor.
Meanwhile, Federal Capital on Monday reported the lowest number of coronavirus cases, 23 out of 1,259 tests. This has been the lowest figure recorded so far in the last two months after the virus situation deteriorated since Eidul Fitr.
Two deaths were recorded after a gap of five days and according to the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat so far 165,650 tests have been conducted in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and the number of active cases hovered over 2,527.
The DC however made an emphatic appeal to the public not to take coronavirus lightly as the threat was very much there and can be dealt with by only following strictly Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for coronavirus.
“From 600 cases a day, we are down to less than 100 cases, and it is time we should further reduce them,” said Hamza Shafqaat.
