A Pakistan High Court judge resigned last week after media reports exposed his close ties with criminal gangs who misprosely indicted Christians and others for blasphemy, sources said.
On Thursday (March 6), Judge Chaudhry Abdul Aziz of the Lahore High Court (LHC) sent President Asif Ali Zardari to resign, resigning from “personal reasons” and demanding immediate acceptance. He was appointed LHC Judge in November 2016.
Several lawyers, including Christian lawyers involved with the advocate accused of blasphemy, have expressed relief to the judge’s resignation as they shared Christian Daily International Morning Star News with how he underwent pressure during the case.
The Muslim lawyer, on condition of anonymity, said days before the controversial judge sent his resignation, Aziz issued a stay order for possible adverse actions, based on a report by the National Human Rights Commission (NCHR) on the case of a blasphemous Asp, in a case.
Sajid Iqbal Lashari, the office officer of the Tahaffuz-I-Khatam-I-Nabuwwat Forum (The Movement for the Final Protection of the Prophet), had challenged the NCHR report in the courts of Aziz. The report noted the lack of a legitimate process in the case of Bloody Asp, which includes serious procedural violations at multiple stages.
The establishment of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was recommended through the Ministry of Human Rights, which includes officials from the police special branch, intelligence reporting agency, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FIA), and other relevant departments. The NCHR report called for strict disciplinary procedures against FIA officials involved in illegal arrests or solicitation of bribery bes, noting the FIA’s apparent tolerance for private organizations and individual petitioners behind multiple blasphemous asp cases.
“I think Aziz has been forced to resign due to the increased international pressure on the country’s civil military facilities, particularly due to the sudden rise in false blasphemy cases over the past few years, in order to take action against blatant violations of Pakistan’s human rights.”
The judge’s link to the “blasphemous business gang” was revealed in an investigation report by Fact Focus, a website banned by Pakistani authorities. According to the report, Aziz had a long history of blasphemous activities with lawyer Rao Abdul Rahim, who claimed to be the mastermind of a “blasphemous business group.”
The two lawyers were involved in the production of a blasphemous ASP incident in August 2012 against 11-year-old Limsha Masi, a Christian girl from Islamabad. Despite the fact that a judicial investigation proved that the case against Rimsha was completely false, Aziz was appointed as a judge for the High Court within four years, the report added.
The Fact Focus Report argued that many blasphemous cases were assigned to Aziz in the Lahore High Court. Citing the case of Muslim suspect Ahmed Satti’s blissful asp, the report said Aziz unnecessaryly held the bail refusal order for four months before he ultimately refused Satti’s bail. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled on the same case that no material was presented to link the petitioner to a suspected crime and granted him bail.
In April 2023, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Judge Babar Satta looked at the malicious and suspected activities in the FIA wing of cybercrimes and ordered the report to stop working on cases that fall under the Pakistan Criminal Code (PPC) and only focus on issues related to electronic crimes.
“Instead of challenging the order at the IHC or taking it to the Supreme Court, Blasphemy Business Gang once again brought the matter before Justice Aziz.
The report revealed that when Islamabad police approached the conclusion of an investigation into the Attorney General in the falsely accused murder of Abdullah Shah, Rahim had filed a petition before complaining that the FIA, who had already worked closely with him, had not properly investigated the case of the blasphemous Asp. Rahim requested that the FIA take appropriate action.
“In response, Judge Aziz ordered the creation of reverse bladder cells in FIAs across the country,” the report said. “The minutes of the case by Judge Aziz were intended to give Rao Abdul Raheem media hype and pressurize police officers in Islamabad.”
Christian lawyer Annika Maria recalled the case of the Vagrant Asp, in which her team submitted applications for bail after arrest to two Christians, Sunny Wakas and his cousin Noman Masi.
“Judge Aziz is on the Bench in Bahawalpur at Lahore High Court and the bail petition has been amended in his court,” Maria told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “Instead of determining the basis for bail, Aziz put pressure on police to add section 7 of the Counterterrorism Act on the Case and investigate the matter again. It’s good that such a religiously biased judge is not part of the bench now.”
Another Christian lawyer, Lazare Allah Raka, said he had filed an appeal against the death sentences given to two Muslim blasphemous Asp suspects, Muhammad Rias and Ejaz Ahmed, whom he heard on the bench of two judges, including Aziz.
“When other judges were about to announce the acquittal of the two prisoners, Aziz rejected himself from the bench to prevent his colleagues from acquitting the appellant,” Raka told Christian Daily International Morning Star News.
Attorneys representing Sunny Wakas and Noman Masi along with Maria said at the bail petition hearing that Aziz had lost his temper and accused the blasphemous suspect of defending “just to make money.”
“The judge’s harsh comments have changed the court’s environment very hostile and have provoked me to surround myself,” Raka said. “He repeatedly pressurized the police investigative supervision to eventually prepare a new sharan (charge sheet) and carry out a new investigation that added sections related to terrorism in the incident.”
Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it’s the hardest place to become a Christian.
