New Delhi: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday offered relief to Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who was accused of misconduct for allegedly failing to disclose information about his family’s foreign assets.
The SC allowed review petitions against the court’s earlier order that had directed an inquiry into the allegations made in a presidential reference against the top court judge in 2020. Justice Isa had been accused of not disclosing information about foreign properties owned by his family members in his wealth statement.
In June 2020, the court had asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — a federal agency that investigates tax crimes in Pakistan — to probe the allegations against 61-year-old Justice Isa, who is in line to become the country’s Chief Justice in September 2023.
However, in a short order, a 10-judge bench vindicated the judge of all allegations Monday with a six-four majority verdict.
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The allegations
Pakistan President Arif Alvi had filed a presidential reference against Justice Isa on May 2019 for allegedly concealing information about his properties in the UK.
The reference noted that he had acquired three properties in London, between 2011 and 2015, on lease in the names of his wife and children but did not reveal this information in his wealth returns.
The president had asked the Supreme Judicial Council (judicial body that hears cases against judges) to probe the judge on the matter.
However, Justice Isa contested the allegation and said that he was not a beneficial owner of the flats, either directly or indirectly.
2019 Faizabad judgment
According to Justice Isa, the Imran Khan government was conspiring to remove him from the Supreme Court for his controversial 2019 judgment on the Faizabad protests, which Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party had supported.
He had made the claim while presenting his arguments before the SC and had also said that he would fight “till the last drop of blood”.
This was echoed by several opposition leaders and lawyers as well.
The Opposition Pakistan People’s Party, in its official statement, said the PTI government’s attempt to “blackmail, intimidate and harass an honorable judge of the Supreme Court has failed”. It was an assault on the entire judiciary, said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Furthermore, Sindh High Court Bar (SHCB) Association President Salahuddin Ahmed said, “We had argued that the entire case against Justice Isa was a mala fide conspiracy to punish him for the Faizabad dharna judgment in which he exposed elements of the deep state and designed to intimidate and subjugate the judiciary”.
In February 2019, the Supreme Court and Isa in particular, had come under fire for passing a verdict that warned the military and intelligence agencies not to exceed their mandate by meddling in politics.
The Supreme Court was investigating the 2017 sit-in protests in Islamabad’s Faizabad, led by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a hardline Islamist group, which had paralysed the capital.
The protest had started after Tehreek-e-Labbaik chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his followers accused then law minister Zahid Hamid of blasphemy for changing the words of an oath taken by lawmakers. The minister later apologised for the same.
“The involvement of ISI and of the members of the Armed Forces in politics, media and other ‘unlawful activities’ should have stopped,” Justice Isa along with Justice Mushir Alam, had said in their verdict.
Justice Isa is the son of the late Qazi Muhammad Isa of Pishin, who was at the forefront of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of the country’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and also helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan.
Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2014, after serving as the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court for five years.
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I am not surprised. But one doubt: is it only the wealth of which one is a beneficial owner that has to be disclosed? Of course judges can have their own vocabularies, like consultation can mean something different for our judges than what the dictionary says.
In Pakistan whether it is the honorable judges or champions of democracy all have one thing in common ….they keep their families & massive wealth in U.K, UAE, U.S etc. but never in Pakistan !!!!