Qazi Faez Isa, family and a few verdicts

LAHORE: Due to turn 64 on October 26, Pakistan’s next Chief Justice, Qazi Faez Isa, hails from an illustrious family of Balochistan.

He is the grandson of Qazi Jalaluddin, the prime minister of Kalat, and the son of Qazi Isa (1914-76), who was one of the most trusted lieutenants of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Having reportedly travelled thousands of miles during the Pakistan Movement between 1940 and 1947, Qazi Isa was a scion of the ethnic Hazara tribe.

He was Pakistan’s ambassador to Brazil from 1951 to 1953 and member of country’s delegations to the United Nations in 1950, 1954 and 1974.

Qazi Isa had proceeded to England for higher studies in 1933 and went on to receive his law degree from London’s prestigious Middle Temple, one of the four professional associations for barristers in England and Wales.

After returning to British India, he started practicing law in Bombay in 1938, where he first met Quaid-e-Azam. He had led Muslim League’s NWFP and Balochistan chapters.

Coming to Justice Qazi Faez Isa, he has now served the Supreme Court of Pakistan for nine years, nine months and 17 days since September 5, 2014. He is known to have penned down some brave and historic rulings as a judge.

In May 2019, or three months after the release of Faizabad dharna verdict, incumbent President Arif Alvi, on advice of the-then Premier Imran Khan, had filed a reference against him. The reference was later struck down by the Supreme Court.

On June 19, 2020, a leading national English newspaper had written: “The Supreme Court threw out the Presidential Reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, terming it “invalid”. The reference is declared to be of no legal effect whatsoever and stands quashed”, read the majority (9-1) short verdict on a petition filed by Justice Isa and others seeking the reference’s dismissal. Justice Yahya Afridi found the petition “non-maintainable”.

The newspaper had added: “Furthermore, seven of the 10 judges on the bench also ordered the Inland Revenue Department and the Federal Board of Revenue to seek explanations from the judge’s wife and children on the nature and source of funding for three properties in their names in the United Kingdom and submit a report to the SC registrar. Other than the dissenting Justice Afridi, Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah opposed the majority decision of an FBR inquiry. The verdict was announced by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who was heading the 10-judge bench hearing the case”. In April 2022, Imran Khan had admitted the filing of afore-mentioned reference against Justice Isa was a “mistake”, and that relevant officials had misguided his government about the facts of the case. According to the Supreme Court of Pakistan website, in response to a freedom of information request by the “Women’s Action Forum”,

Justice Isa was the only judge who had furnished and published details of all his assets, income and privileges. His wife, Sarina Isa, had also voluntarily responded to the public call of financial disclosure.

In “Khalid Humayun versus NAB Case,” Justice Qazi Isa had slated the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for entering into a plea bargain accord with a public servant caught red-handed with a hefty amount of cash.

Justice Isa had observed acceptance of the plea bargain by the Chairman NAB was totally contrary to the spirit and objectives of eradicating the menace of corruption and ill-gotten wealth.

Archives reveal that having dissented in the “District Bar Association Rawalpindi versus Federation of Pakistan Case,” which enabled the trial of civilians by military courts, Justice Isa had earlier opted not to appear before arbiters who had violated their respective oaths after the proclamation of the November 3, 2007 Emergency during General Pervez Musharraf’s time.

Following apex court’s orders that nullified the November 2007 Emergency, all the Balochistan High Court judges had to relinquish charge, and on August 5, 2009, he was directly elevated to the position of the Chief Justice of the highest provincial court.

The Supreme Court website states Justice Isa regularly wrote for Pakistan’s premier English newspapers, and co-authored a book “Mass Media Laws and Regulations in Pakistan”.