Missing Persons Commission head Khokhar passes away

ISLAMABAD: Former Supreme Court judge and recently appointed head of the Missing Persons Commission, Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, passed away on Wednesday.

The government had appointed him to lead the commission just a week ago.

His family confirmed his passing. His funeral prayer will be held today in Lahore after Asr prayer.

Justice Khokhar was among the judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) after Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in 2007.

In 2008, he served as the acting chief election commissioner of Pakistan.

In 2009, then-President Asif Ali Zardari accepted his resignation, along with that of Justice M Javaid Buttar, after both judges faced the prospect of being questioned by the Supreme Judicial Council for taking oath under the PCO.

In 2020, he served as an independent adjudicator to hear cricketer Umar Akmal’s appeal in a spot-fixing case. Akmal had been found guilty of violating Article 2.4.4 of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Anti-Corruption Code in two separate incidents. Khokhar reduced Akmal’s suspension from three years to 1.5 years.