ISLAMABAD: The Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights on Thursday denounced remarks made by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi in the Noor Mukadam case, calling them “ridiculous.” The comments, which surfaced a day earlier, have sparked widespread criticism.
Justice Najafi, now serving on the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), had suggested that the Noor Mukadam murder case stemmed from a societal “vice” known as a “living relationship,” referring to cohabitation between unmarried couples.
During a committee meeting, members questioned the impact of such statements on the conviction rate in cases involving women, which they described as already “shamefully low.”
The committee summoned advocate generals, prosecutor generals, police officials, and other relevant authorities to address the persistently low conviction rates. Reports indicate that convictions in gender-based violence (GBV) cases are as low as 1.2 percent, largely due to weak prosecution and judicial delays.
Women’s rights advocates highlighted additional challenges, including the absence of a centralized GBV database and underfunding of shelters, crisis centers, GBV courts, and police protection units.
Noor Mukadam, 27, was murdered at the Islamabad residence of Zahir Zakir Jaffer in July 2021. In May, a three-judge Supreme Court bench—including Justices Hashim Kakar, Ishtiaq Ibrahim, and Najafi—upheld Jaffer’s death sentence, originally awarded by an Islamabad trial court in 2022.
Last month, the Supreme Court heard Jaffer’s review petition challenging his capital punishment. Justice Najafi had informed senior counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed, representing the convict, that arguments should proceed only after reviewing an additional note he had yet to issue. Later, he was sworn in as a judge of the newly established FCC under the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
In the note uploaded on the Supreme Court website Wednesday, Justice Najafi reaffirmed Jaffer’s sentence, stating that the case resulted from a “vice spreading in upper society” through “living relationships,” which, he said, ignored “societal compulsions” and violated both national law and Sharia.
The remarks, which emerged just a day after the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, have drawn criticism from lawyers, journalists, and social media users.
