A BRIEF INTRO ABOUT QAZI FAEIZ ISA AND HIS CASE

 

INTRODUCTION

Qazi Faeiz Isa belongs to district Pashin of Balochistan province. He is the son of Qazi Muhammad Isa, who was a close companion of Quaid e Azam during the Pakistan movement. His father was the first person from Baluchistan who acquired a bar-at-law degree. Moreover, he also worked very hard for spreading the message of Muslim League as he was the only member from Baluchistan on its Central Working Committee. Qazi Faeiz Isa completed his O and A Levels exam from Karachi Grammar School. He then got his law education from London where he also became a barrister. He enrolled as an Advocate of Baluchistan High Court in 1985 and then as an Advocate of Supreme Court in 1998. Before his elevation as judge of The High Court, he was a senior partner in one of Pakistan’s leading law firm. Moreover, he has also worked as Amicus Curiae (someone who is not a party to a case but assists a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case) in various cases.

JOURNEY AS A JUDGE

When an emergency was proclaimed in the country on 3 November 2007, and the judges were forced to take oath under The Provisional Constitutional Order(PCO); Mr. Qazi Faeiz Isa refused to take oath terming thePCO as illegal. So, in 2009 when the Supreme Court declared PCO as unconstitutional and made the Judges to tender their resignations; Mr. Qazi Faeiz Isa rose to become the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court directly.  For the first time in the history of Pakistan, a person was appointed as the Chief Justice without serving as a judge first. Then, in 2014 he was elevated as a Judge of The Supreme Court of Pakistan and is set to become the Chief Justice of Pakistan in September 2023. Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa is known for his strong decisions no matter who the perpetuators are, he has given a tough challenge to the status quo of the country and is trying to uphold the rule of law and independence of judiciary through his decisions. Following is a brief excerpt of his decisions which speaks volume about his capacity as a judge:

MEMOGATE SCANDAL

During the reign of PPP, when it came to the limelight that Hussain Haqqani had written a memo to a High American Official signaling the bad terms between military and civil leadership owing to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. In this letter, he had also warned that America should intervene immediately and end the rifts; failing to do so will bring a martial law in the country. So when the matter was taken to The Apex Court, it formed a commission in this regard and announced Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa as its head. Mr Isa conducted the proceedings along with other judges and found Hussain Haqqani as ‘Not Loyal to the Country’ and advised for a strict action against him. 

21st AMENDMENT

When 21^st Amendment in the constitution of Pakistan was made, which allowed for civilians to be tried under military courts; it was challenged in the Supreme Court on the grounds of violating the fundamental rights. And although the majority decided the amendment to be the need of thehour, Mr. Isa along with five other judges disagreed and wrote a dissenting note terming this amendment against public interest.

QUETTA BLAST INQUIRY REPORT

In 2016, when Quetta Services Hospital was attacked by the terrorists in which 74 people were killed; the Supreme Court of Pakistan made a commission under Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa to investigate this matter. Justice Isa completed his report in 56 days and made 18 recommendations. The major recommendations were applying the National Action Plan in its full spirit and putting a ban on the terrorist organizations. Moreover, it was also grieved that the then interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had met Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, the head of three banned organisations — Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Millat-i-Islamia and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat — to listen to his demands and conceded to them as per media reports. Besides this, he also penned down a heartfelt letter to the families of deceased.

FAIZABAD SIT-IN

In 2017, Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan staged a sit-in in Faizabad against a proposed act of the assembly and not only took the country by a halt but also took the law in its hand; hurting common citizens and damaging the economy by about a billion rupees. Pertaining to this matter, Mr. Qazi Faeiz Isa took a suo moto (an action taken by a court under its own accord, without any request by the parties involved). The decision that followed was very strongly worded. It ordered for the stake holders of the state to bring an end to the militant groups. It also showed evidence of TLP being foreign funded and ordered for it to be banned immediately. Furthermore, it named certain political figures involved in the Sit-In such as Sheikh Rasheed(AML), Ejaz Ul Haq(PML-Z), and the PTI Ulema Wing to have supported the stance of TLP which only added to the hatred and extremism already being spread. In addition, the decision strictly reminded the armed forces of its oath not to participate in any political activity and directed TheGovernment of Pakistan to initiate action through the Ministry of Defence and the respective Chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force against the personnel under their command who were found to have violated their oath.

After this strong decision against the government and other public office holders, The Government orchestrated a reference against Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa in the Supreme Judicial Council. It should be kept in mind that the judges of Supreme Court can be tried in this council only after the President sends it to the council. And the same Arif Alvi: now The President of Pakistan who had proposed Justice Qazi Faeiz as the governor of Baluchistan in 2013 through a tweet had now approved a reference against him.

CASE

Before the case started, The Government ran a mass campaign against Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa through media; degrading his character. Mr. Shehzad Akbar, Chairman ASU (Assets Discovery Unit) discovered 3 properties in the UK which were not declared by Qazi Faeiz Isa in his assets and his children were living there. A reference was filed against Qazi Faeiz Isa after the approval of President. Supreme Judicial Council started its proceedings but didn’t give Qazi Faeiz Isa a chance to be heard so Qazi Faeiz Isa challenged the reference in the Supreme Court on the grounds of mala fide and ill intent and said that it was being done to him because of the verdict that he gave in Faizabad Sit-In case. In his arguments, he said that these apartments belonged to his wife and because his wife was independent of him and bought these through her own earnings; therefore there wasn’t any need for him to declare these apartments in his assets. For this purpose, his wife also appeared before the court and not only recorded her statements but also showed receipts and records of her earnings. She said that her earning came from her Agricultural land that she inherited from her father and her teaching in an American school in Karachi. Head of the bench, Justice Umer Atta Bandial while speaking on behalf of the whole bench expressed its satisfaction in the explanation given by Justice Isa and his wife. But when the matter was decided on 19 June 2020, it pictured a very different story. The decision said that the reference has been quashed as it was based upon mala fide and ill intent of the government but it instructed FBR to investigate the wife of Qazi Faeiz Isa and proceed accordingly if found anything. The decision to quash the reference was 10-0 in favour of Justice Isa. But the point of referring the case to FBR was 7-3 against Justice Qazi Isa. Three judges who dissented to this decision were Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Maqbool Baqir, and Justice Yahya Afridi.

APPEAL AGAINST THE DECISION 

Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa didnt agree to the decision and filed an appeal to review this decision. His appeal was based on two major points: First, if the court had quashed the reference, then how did it refer the matter to FBR. Because, if there was some concrete evidence against him; it shouldn’t have quashed the reference in the first place and that it actually meant keeping the reference alive, doing so would go against its own decision. The second point was that because Mrs. Isa wasn’t a party to this case, therefore the court cannot decide against her or instruct any institution to conduct proceedings against her in this case.  The government couldn’t provide some concrete arguments in this matter and moved away from its stance. While at first it said that Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa didn’t declare these 3 properties in his assets so as to avoid taxes. It now said that Mrs. Isa didn’t have the finances to purchase these properties even when Mrs. Isa presented her money trail in the court. All in all it was nothing solid from the government but just beating around the bush by the government. On 26^th April 2021, Supreme Court accepted the appeal of Qazi Faeiz Isa with a majority of 6-4 and stopped FBR and Supreme Judicial Council from any proceedings against Justice Qazi Faeiz Isa and his wife in this very matter. The judges who ruled in favour of Qazi Faeiz Isa were Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Manzoor Malik, Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin ud din Khan, and Justice Mazhar Alam. While Justice Umar Atta Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, and Justice Qazi M Amin opposed this decision.

 WHAT'S NEXT

 Mr. Isa will be joining the Supreme Judicial Council in August 2021 and will rise to become the Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2023. On the other hand, it remains to be seen that whether the court decides to take any action against those who were involved in maligning a respectable judge of The Apex Court through a mala fide reference.