Justice Qazi Faez Isa has been sworn in as the 29th Chief Justice of Pakistan.
President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath to the new chief justice of the Supreme Court at a ceremony held in President House. He assumed office after the retirement of his predecessor Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
Early Life and career
Justice Qazi Faez Isa was born on October 26, 1959 in Quetta. He is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin, who was part of the Pakistan Movement and a close aide of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
After completing his primary and secondary education in Quetta, Qazi Faez Isa moved to Karachi to finish his O and A-Levels from the Karachi Grammar School.
He went to London to study law where he completed his Bar Professional Examination from the Inns of Court School Law, London. Justice Isa was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple) in 1982.
Qazi Faez Isa enrolled as an advocate of the Balochistan High Court in January 1985, and as an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1998. He has practiced law for over 27 years before all the High Courts of Pakistan, Federal Shariat Court, and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
He remained a senior partner and head of litigation in a leading law firm before being elevated to the high court. He has also conducted international arbitrations and innumerable cases have been reported in law journals.
Balochistan High Court
After the proclamation of state of emergency on November 3, 2007, Qazi Faez Isa refused to appear before judges who oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).
Two years later, the Supreme Court issued a landmark verdict declared the emergency unconstitutional and all the judges of the Balochistan High Court tendered their resignation.
On August 5, 2009, Justice Isa was directly elevated to the position of Chief Justice of the High Court of Balochistan. At the time of his elevation, Justice Isa was the solitary judge in the high court. He nominated all judges and reestablished the Balochistan High Court.
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 5, 2014. He became the Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court after Justice Umar Ata Bandial became the Chief Justice of Pakistan on February 2, 2022.
He will remain in office as the top judge for 13 months till his retirement on 26 October 2024. He lives in Islamabad with his wife whom he has been married to for 37 years. He has a son and a daughter and three grandchildren.
Memogate Commission
In 2012, Supreme Court formed a judicial commission headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa tasked with probing the Memogate scandal.
The case related to a memo delivered to a high-ranking US military official at the behest of then Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani exposing a rift between the PPP government and the army.
The incident was disclosed by US-based businessman Mansoor Ijaz who said that Haqqani asked him to deliver a confidential memo asking for US assistance. Haqqani was forced to resign after the disclosure.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan opened a broader inquiry into the origins, credibility, and purpose of the memo. On 12 June 2012, the commission released its findings and found that it was “incontrovertibly established” that Husain Haqqani had authored the memo.
The apex court finally wrapped the case up in February 2019 by stating that it is the responsibility of the state to arrest and try former envoy for high treason.
Quetta attack commission
On October 6, 2016, the Supreme Court formed a commission to investigate the suicide attack at Civil Hospital, Quetta on August 8 in which more than 70 people, mostly lawyers, were killed.
The inquiry commission led by Justice Faez Isa issued its detailed report on the incident after thoroughly examining the concerned persons and obtaining responses from relevant ministries, departments and institutions.
The report called for banning terrorist organizations without any delay by enforcing the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). It regretted that the then interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had met the head of three banned organizations to listen to his demands.
Justice Isa penned a heartfelt letter written to the families of the deceased lawyers in the Quetta massacre.
Faizabad sit-in
In February 2019, the Supreme Court issued a strongly-worded judgment in the 2017 Faizabad sit-in case staged by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The judgment penned by Justice Qazi Faez Isa observed serious lapses by the government, media, PEMRA, intelligence agencies, armed forces, and the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The Supreme Court directed the government, law enforcers, intelligence agencies and the army’s media wing to operate within their mandate.
The court directed the federal and provincial governments to monitor and prosecute those advocating hate, extremism and terrorism, and also ordered respective chiefs of the armed forces to initiate action against personnel found to have violated their oath.
Presidential reference
Justice Isa became controversial after a presidential reference was filed against him in 2019 for concealing assets and recommended action against him.
The Supreme Court directed the tax authorities to investigate allegations against Sarina Isa, the wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, for not declaring three foreign properties and to submit its findings to the Supreme Judicial Council (JDC).
