legal branch after accepting a professorship in law at the Balochistan University and became an honorary lecturer at Balochistan University. In 1982, he was appointed as a session judge at the district court, and gave verdicts in anti-corruption and custom cases. In 1985, Iqbal attended the International Islamic University (IIU) in Islamabad where he gained a master's degree in Islamic law where his thesis contained the work on jurisprudence in Islamic Faqīh and Sharia laws, in 1987. During the same period, he attended an advanced course National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) In 1988, he was also appointed as the Judicial Member, Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal, but the Government of Balochistan did not relieve him. In 1990, he became Registrar of the Balochistan High Court which he retained until 1993. Senior Justice Chief Justice, Balochistan High Court In 1993, Justice Iqbal was elevated as additional judge at the Balochistan High Court and was confirmed as "justice" by the Governor of Balochistan Province in 1995. In 1999, he was one of the judges in the country who retook their oaths under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), following the aftermath of the military coup d'état staged by Chairman joint chiefs General Pervez Musharraf. On immediate effect, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court on 4 February 2000; subsequently his promotion papers were approved by President Rafiq Tarar. However, this promotion was short-lived when Justice Iqbal was elevated as a "Senior Justice" of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 28 April 2000. Supreme Court appointments When the presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was filed on 9 March 2007, Iqbal served as acting Chief Justice of Pakistan from 9 March 2007 until 23 March 2007. Iqbal refused to take oath on Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) on 3 November 2007. As the result he was removed from the Supreme Court along with eleven other judges. Later he was appointed to the position of chairman of the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) for three years on 11 November 2007. He announced on 12 April 2008 that he had resigned from that position. On 17 March 2009 as the result of the lawyer and civil society movement for restoration of judiciary, Justice Iqbal was restored to the position of 2 November 2007 on the bench of supreme court. Important cases On 13 April 2005, a bench headed by, then Chief Justice