ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa took oath as the 29th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).
President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath during an investiture ceremony at the President’s House in Islamabad.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was also present during the ceremony. Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir attended the ceremony.
Top government officials and dignitaries, including military officials, caretaker federal ministers, senators and foreign ambassadors attended the ceremony.
His predecessor Justice Umar Ata Bandial retired from office a day earlier after reaching the age of superannuation.
Justice Isa’s tenure as the country’s chief justice, however, will be quite brief, as he is set to retire from the position on October 25, 2024.
Justice Isa took the oath as the apex court’s judge on September 5, 2014. Despite being the senior puisne judge, he was not assigned any constitutional case for the past three years following a presidential reference filed against him in 2019.
Qazi Faez Isa was born on October 26, 1959, in Quetta. His father, Qazi Mohammad Isa, was a prominent leader in the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
After completing his initial education in Quetta, Justice Isa pursued O and A levels studies from the Karachi Grammar School. He then moved to London to pursue his higher education in law to complete the bar professional examination at the Inns of Court School of Law.
He joined the Balochistan High Court on January 30, 1985, and became an advocate of the Supreme Court in March 1998. After an emergency was declared during the Pervez Musharraf era on November 3, 2007, Justice Isa decided not to appear before judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).
After the decision of emergency promulgation was annulled by the Supreme Court, the Balochistan High Court judges resigned. Justice Isa was directly appointed as the judge of the provincial high court on August 5, 2009.
He remained associated with the field of law for 27 years before being appointed as a judge in the Balochistan High Court and the Supreme Court.
During this time, he was sought after for assistance in various difficult cases by different high courts and the Supreme Court, as well as for handling international arbitrations.
