ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday approved the appointment of Justice Qazi Faez Isa as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Justice Qazi will take oath of office on September 17, 2023, following the retirement of the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial, a statement issued by President House said on Wednesday.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is reaching the age of superannuation on September 16, 2023.
Justice Qazi will remain CJP for a little over one year.
According to Pakistan’s constitution, the retirement age of a Supreme Court judge is 65 years while that of a High Court judge is 62.
Born on October 26, 1959, Justice Faez Isa has practised law for over 27 years before the High Courts of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
He became a member of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association and Life Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan.
During practice as lawyer, he was often called by the High Courts and the Supreme Court as amicus curiae and rendered assistance in certain complicated cases. He has also conducted international arbitration.
Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 5, 2014. He lives in Islamabad with his wife and has two children and a granddaughter.
Son of a worker of Pakistan Movement
Justice Qazi’s father Qazi Mohammad Isa was the first person from the province to acquire the Bar-at-Law and helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan after his return from London.
Qazi had served as the only member on the Central Working Committee of the All India Muslim League from Balochistan.
Begum Saida Isa, Justice Qazi’s mother, was a social worker and worked in an honorary capacity on the boards of hospitals and other charitable organisations which focused on education, children and women’s health issues.
‘A bold judge’
Justice Qazi is known for his bold judgments and criticism of non-state actors.
Known as a judge who always goes by the book, Justice Qazi has always advocated rule of law and supremacy of the constitution in the country.
His name first rose to prominence when he while hearing a suo motu case of Faizabad Dharna or sit-in of 2017, questioned the role of security forces in mediating a deal between the then federal government and the protesters of the religious outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in November 2017 that had staged a sit-in against the then government of the PML-N.
The bench comprising Justice Qazi and Justice Musheer Alam had reserved the verdict on November 2018 and announced it in February 2019.
The judgement also noted that the then Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had also taken to commenting on political matters and said that the military must never be perceived to support a particular political party, faction or politician.
The judgment did not go well with the powers that be and later, according to analysts, he faced a reference filed by the current president in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in May 2019 for “disclosing his family members properties in the United Kingdom in his wealth statement.”
Later, the president clarified he had simply forwarded the reference to the SJC as received by the government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
However, almost a year after the presidential reference was filed, a ten-member bench of the Supreme Court in June 20202, threw the reference and declared the proceedings of the SJC null and void.
