KARACHI: In September 2023, Justice Qazi Faez Isa will become the new Chief Justice of Pakistan, and as the September date inches closer, Imran Khan further distances himself from the reference filed against Justice Isa during his tenure.
Recently, Khan made a big revelation and also admitted that the then establishment was involved in filing the reference against Justice Faez Isa, and it was at a much higher level than the then DGISI Faiz Hameed. came. On the one hand, Khan Sahib admits the helplessness of his government and by making such a statement, he also issues a charge sheet against the establishment and on the other hand, after making this statement, he has raised questions on the behavior of the Supreme Judiciary. This happened because any action initiated against Justice Faez Isa was within the jurisdiction of the Judiciary as he should have foiled the conspiracy.
But the facts show that one Chief Justice after another, instead of siding with his brother judge against the conspiracy, was allegedly involved in the conspiracy.
This vendetta against Justice Faez Isa was initiated because of his decision on the Faizabad sit-in as he pointed out the political agenda of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, the failure of the then government and the role of the establishment. Since this judgment, successive Chief Justices have not allowed Justice Faez Isa to be a part of the bench hearing any important political and constitutional case.
Despite this situation, he is still considered as the most senior and competent judge of the Supreme Court.
Successive Chief Justices not only sidelined Justice Faez Isa but also ensured that Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, who is considered to be a supporter of Justice Isa’s approach, was given the opportunity to hear important political and constitutional cases. Should not meet. The most surprising aspect is that the honorable judges who quashed the proceedings initiated against Justice Faez Isa on the orders of the Supreme Court were also sidelined one after the other.
There is a perspective of the action of sidelining Justice Faez Isa by successive Chief Justices of the Supreme Court.
In January 2019, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and in May 2019, the government filed a reference against Justice Faez Isa. On filing the reference, Justice Khosa and Justice Isa stood against each other. Justice Isa accused Justice Khosa of partiality. After raising this objection against Justice Khosa, Justice Isa requested the court to constitute a full court bench to decide the presidential reference. Later, a 10-member bench headed by Justice Umar Atta Bandial heard the presidential reference against Justice Isa.
But before Justice Bandial became the Chief Justice, a strange incident happened during the tenure of Justice Gulzar Ahmed. At the beginning of 2021, when Justice Isa took notice of the issue of release of development funds by the then Prime Minister Imran Khan, the then Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed constituted a 5-member larger bench headed by him. Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan were also included in this bench. Then on February 11, when this bench was hearing the case, Justice Bandial objected to Justice Isa’s order asking the Prime Minister to respond to the court in his personal capacity.
Addressing the Attorney General, Justice Bandial asked: “Attorney General sir, is the Prime Minister accountable in his personal capacity or not?” The Prime Minister has constitutional immunity. The Prime Minister is answerable to the court when the issue concerns him. If the government is accountable, then the Prime Minister cannot be questioned. Addressing the then Attorney General, Justice Bandial further said: “Attorney General sir, ensure that no illegal orders are issued.”
The main issue is that during the same hearing, Justice Isa remarked that he did not know whether the Prime Minister has constitutional immunity on political actions or not. In the past, the courts used to summon the Prime Ministers.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed intervened during the hearing and remarked that we are not here to control the Prime Minister’s Office as we are only dealing with this case. The prime minister and a respected judge are opposing parties in a case.
After these remarks of the Chief Justice, the judges on the bench left the courtroom.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed issued an unprecedented order restraining Justice Qazi Faez Isa from hearing cases against Imran Khan.
Justice Gulzar in his order said not to hear the cases related to Justice Faez Isa Khan as he himself has become a petitioner against Khan and it would be appropriate in the interest of justice not to hear the cases related to Justice Faez Isa Khan.
It is interesting that Imran Khan did not file any complaint to prevent Justice Isa from hearing his cases and no objection was raised in this regard.
Another interesting incident of ignoring Justice Isa was when Justice Isa took notice of the harassment of journalists in August 2021 when some journalists complained to him that some government departments were harassing them at the behest of the government. Justice Isa issued notices to the FIA and other law enforcement agencies. However, Justice Umar Atta Bandial, who was sworn in as the Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on August 20, 2021, constituted a larger bench to hear the matter, suspending Justice Isa’s suo motu notice the next day. Justice Isa administered oath to Justice Bandial.
The larger bench included Justice Bandial, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and this five-member bench quashed Justice Isa’s suo motu notice and said that only the Chief Justice has . Power to take cognizance of matters of public interest and to constitute benches of the Supreme Court.
The larger bench, however, agreed that there was a perception of imbalance in the exercise of such powers and the Chief Justice suggested steps to remove the perception.
However, despite being pointed out by several judges of the Supreme Court, this imbalance has not been remedied. Recently, Justice Faez Isa issued a judgment regarding the suo motu notice and said that such an exercise can be postponed until appropriate rules and regulations are prepared by the Supreme Court. However, this order was ignored by the Registrar of the Supreme Court through a circular.
Similarly, Chief Justice Bandial also seems to defend his fellow judges and despite filing several references against Justice Mazhar Ali Naqvi, he stood by him unlike Justice Isa, who was not supported by any former Chief Justice.
In March 2023, Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial had remarked that adding Justice Naqvi to the bench was a silent message and those who would talk about my judges would have to face me.
The Chief Justice remarked that I also have heart and feelings, if there is a tax matter, ask the concerned officer to trace it. How can we sue a judge on a tax issue?”
However, the interesting thing is that in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case, the larger bench headed by Justice Bandial directed the wife of Justice Isa to submit the sources of income before the FBR and the FBR was directed to submit a compliance report. .
However, later six judges of the Supreme Court Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Mazhar Alam Mian Khel, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Aminuddin Khan modified the order of Justice Bandial to the FBR. was stopped. restrained from taking any action against Justice Isa and his family and quashed all proceedings.
In his separate note in the presidential reference against Justice Isa, Justice Bandial wrote that the apex court judge is answerable to the special forum that was constituted to investigate allegations of his misconduct. Justice Bundyal remarked that the questions regarding the source of funding for the purchase of the properties were relevant and legal and judges were also accountable for their mistakes and the instant case had material that needed to be clarified before the Supreme Judicial Council. should be explained so that all the doubts raised on the Supreme Court and Justice Faez Isa can be resolved. These were the views of Justice Bandial in the Presidential Reference of Justice Faez Isa.
Questions are now being raised on the conduct of another judge of the Supreme Court. The Pakistan Bar Council has filed a reference against the judge in the Supreme Judicial Council. On this the Chief Justice remarked that those who talk about my judges will have to face me. If it is a tax issue, ask the concerned official to figure it out. How do we test a judge on a tax issue?
There is another interesting thing in all this. A majority of Supreme Court judges quashed the reference against Justice Faez Isa, after which the Imran Khan government instituted a curative review reference against the decision. There is no precedent of curative review reference in the judicial history of Pakistan. However, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered to withdraw the curative review reference.
On April 10, Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial heard the government’s plea to withdraw the reference in his chambers and reserved his decision on it, which is yet to be announced after a month has passed. Today the Chief Justice made remarks in defense of Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi. He said that filing a reference against a judge does not stop him from fulfilling his responsibility.
However, Justice Isa was restrained from performing his duties from the filing of the reference till the judgment on it. Today, the judges who refused to be part of the conspiracy against Justice Isa are being sidelined and now Imran Khan, whose government created the reference, took ownership of it, launched a media campaign against Justice Isa. Now saying they were told to do it. by all establishments.
But will the Chief Justices from 2019 till date explain on whose request they sidelined Justice Isa and why he was not made a part of the benches hearing important cases. This particular revelation of Imran Khan is questioning the credibility of all these Chief Justices.
We tried to contact former Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Gulzar Ahmed but they refused to comment.
