Who had conspired against Justice Faez Isa?

ISLAMABAD: Three brother judges of Justice Qazi Faez Isa were allegedly behind the idea of reference that was filed against the latter by the Imran Khan government, an informed source claimed.

The source, who was an important player at that time, told The News on condition of not being named that three Supreme Court judges, all retired now, had planned and persuaded through intermediaries the then establishment and the government to move against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The source said that the then prime minister Imran Khan was initially reluctant to file the reference against Justice Isa but later he too agreed following the persuasion of some of his top legal minds and a trusted establishment man.

It is alleged that the three judges had conspired against Justice Isa through the establishment and some legal minds of the Imran Khan government. They, it is alleged, also shared the information on the basis of which the reference was to be prepared. The establishment, which supported the move, was told that it would be in the “national interest” to remove Justice Qazi Faez Isa from the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The PTI government on May 23, 2019, moved the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) – the forum that can hold superior court judges accountable – against Justice Isa and Sindh High Court judge Justice K K Agha over non-disclosure of their families’ foreign assets in their wealth statements.

The government’s move was strongly criticised by political, legal and media circles. In June 2020, the top court had quashed the presidential reference filed against Justice Isa as well as the SJC proceedings that were started on the basis of the reference.

A 10-judge full court had issued the verdict after hearing for over six months a slew of petitions filed against the reference that claimed that Justice Isa had committed misconduct by not disclosing his family members’ properties in the UK in his wealth statement.

Later, the then government filed a curative review reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa. However, former prime minister Imran Khan admitted in April 2022 that the filing of a presidential reference for the removal of Justice Isa was a mistake.

While terming it a “mistake”, Imran Khan had blamed the law ministry in the PTI government for sending reference against Justice Isa before the Supreme Judicial Council. However, Farogh Nasim in his response had brushed aside the blame stating that the reference was moved only on ex-PM Khan’s insistence.

But Fawad Chaudhry, while claiming that he had objected to the filing of the reference, Barrister Nasim should have admitted that it was his doing. Recently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the withdrawal of the curative review reference against Supreme Court’s senior-most judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa following the government’s decision not to pursue the matter further.