| Khwaja Muhammad Ahmad Samdani | |
| Native Name: | خواجہ محمد احمد صمدانی |
| Native Name Lang: | ur |
| Birth Date: | 1932 |
| Death Date: | 11 April 2013 |
| Office: | Justice, Lahore High Court |
| Termstart: | 1971 |
| Termend: | 1977 |
| Office1: | Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Law and Justice |
| Termstart1: | 1977 |
| Termend1: | 1981 |
| Alma Mater: | Islamia College Peshawar, Yale University (LLM) |
Khwaja Muhammad Ahmad Samdani (1932 – 11 April 2013) was a Pakistani judge who served on the Lahore High Court bench.[1]
Samdani was born in 1932 in Kareem Nagar, Hyderabad Deccan, and his family migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.[2] After completing his education, he taught at Islamia College Peshawar before joining the civil service and later transitioning to the judiciary. He also pursued an LLM at Yale University on a scholarship.[2]
In 1972, Samdani was appointed as an additional judge at the Lahore High Court.[2]
In 1974, during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's tenure as Prime Minister, anti-Ahmadiyya violence erupted in Pakistan.[2] Samdani chaired the Rabwah Tribunal, which investigated the violence that took place on 29 May 1974.[2] Although the full report of the tribunal was not made public, it is noted that Justice Samdani considered the Second Constitutional Amendment, which declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims, to be a form of persecution against a vulnerable minority.[2]
In a bail in the Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri murder case against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he granted bail to Bhutto despite pressure from the military government led by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.[3] Samdani's decision was seen as a display of judicial independence and impartiality.[3]
In April 1980, while serving as the federal law secretary, Samdani had a confrontation with Zia-ul-Haq over remarks the general had made about secretaries.[3] Samdani stood his ground and refused to apologise, believing in the correctness of his actions.[3]
In 1981, Samdani was presented with a new oath containing clauses he deemed unconstitutional.[3] Rather than comply with these clauses, he chose to retire from his position.[3] [4]