Justice Syed Anwar Aftab

Justice Syed Anwar Aftab was born in a respectful Sadat family of Quetta on 26th April, 1957. After partition of sub-continent, his father, Syed Aftab Ahmed, who had served the British Army, joined Land Customs department as Preventive Officer at Chaman and served throughout Balochistan. Justice Syed Anwar Aftab has been a permanent resident of Quetta and received his entire education from various Institutions at Quetta. He passed matriculation in 1971 from Islamia High School; F.Sc and B.Sc from Government Degree Science College, Quetta in 1973 and 1976 respectively. He passed MSc (Mathematics) in 1979 from University of Balochistan and LLB in 1981 from University Law College, Quetta.

After his Masters, he joined Directorate of Agriculture Research Balochistan Quetta, through Balochistan Public Service Commission and served as Statistical Officer and then Deputy Director (Planning) from 1980 to 1994. He joined judiciary as Additional District and Sessions Judge in September 1994 and served at Usta Muhammad and Quetta up to February, 1999. In March 1999, he was promoted as District and Sessions Judge and served in Khuzdar, Lasbella at Hub and then in Kalat at Mastung up to September 2003.

He was appointed as “Judicial Reforms Management Specialist” and subsequently “Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist” in the Project Management Unit of the Access to Justice Program, Quetta from November 2003 to October 2005 and from July 2006 to June 2007 respectively. Simultaneously, he served as Secretary to the Hon’ble Chief Justice, High Court of Balochistan from July 2000 to June 2007.

As District and Sessions Judge, he served judiciary from July 2007 to November 2013 in Zhob, Noshki, Usta Muhammad, Musakhail at Loralai, Dera Murad Jamali, Pishin and Loralai districts. He was also assigned as Registrar of the High Court of Balochistan from November 2013 to September 2014.

From September 2014 to February 2015 he worked as Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, Balochistan, and from February 2015 to April 2016 as District and Sessions Judge, Loralai. On his last posting, he served as District and Sessions Judge, Quetta from April 2016 to August 2016 and taken oath as Additional Judge of the High Court of Balochistan on 13th August, 2016.

Justice Syed Anwar Aftab has extensive experience in the development of justice system, judicial reforms and proceedings in all sorts of cases pertaining to Civil, Criminal, Election, Terrorism, Customs, Anti-Corruption, Narcotics, Immigration, and Banking. He served District judiciary in different capacities holding simultaneously multiple charge of Courts and has been the senior most District and Sessions Judge before his elevation in the High Court of Balochistan. He participated in scores of seminars, workshops and conferences on Court and Case-flow Management, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, Intellectual Property Rights, Environment and Terrorism etc. held in country at various venues.

He got training in “Statistical Design, Data Analysis with Computerization of research data”, in a nine months course at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, during 1982-83. In the year 1986, he participated in the “International Horticultural Congress”, at University of California, Davis CA, USA. The “Monitoring and Evaluation of Public Sector Projects”, a four months training program was joined by him at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, 1994. In October 2002, he studied the “Court System of the USA with emphasis on the Role of Court Administrators in District Courts”, a two weeks Orientation Workshop, San Francisco CA, USA. In September 2006, he attended a seminar on “Adjudication on Intellectual Property Rights in Pakistan”, organised by Commercial Law Development Program, USA, at Islamabad. From 2001 to 2006, he prepared five “Annual Progress Reports” of the High Court of Balochistan and had also organised six “Annual Judicial Conferences” for all Judicial Officers of Balochistan, under the auspices of the Access to Justice Program, at Quetta. He participated in two of the “International Judicial Conferences” organised by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan at Islamabad during the year 2012 and 2014.

Justice Syed Anwar Aftab is computer literate and fully conversant with Microsoft® office applications. He had facilitated in establishing a full fledge Computer section in the High Court, which now caters for monitoring progress of each Court and provides basic information for each developmental activity and got initiated conversion of large number of old files on electronic media. He is familiar with specialized computer software for project preparation, statistical analysis, monitoring and evaluation. He has ability to prepare judicial, physical and financial progress reports. He was appointed as Inquiry Tribunal by the Government of Balochistan, to conduct inquiries pertaining to the incidents occurred at Draingarh, and at ATF sub-jail, Quetta. He has been a committed judicial reformer, professional, analytical and problem-solving, well-versed in research and management of judicial functions.