Every year on December 16, Pakistanis are reminded of two major tragedies -- the separation of East Pakistan that happened in March 1971 and the terrorist attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar two years ago in 2014.

Both remind us that lessons should be learned from past tragedies, but the Quetta Commission Report made public this December showed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, or for that matter the previous ones, refuse to do so.

The commission was constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan under Article 184(3) of the Constitution to investigate the August 8 terrorist attacks in Quetta, including the one at the Sandeman Provincial Hospital in which 75 persons, mostly lawyers, were killed and many more were wounded. The suicide bombing eliminated the cream of Balochistan’s lawyers’ community who used to be in the forefront of any campaign for worthy causes such as democracy, human rights and provincial autonomy. As Justice Qazi Faez Isa hails from Balochistan, he was considered a better choice to investigate one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in his native province.

The timing of the release of the Quetta Commission’s 110-page report was perfect as December marked the two-year anniversary of the attack on the army-run school that resulted in the killing of 147 persons, including 132 schoolchildren. It caused a nation-wide outrage that forced the ruling and opposition parties and the military high command to agree on the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) to act decisively for tackling terrorism and uprooting the root-causes of extremism.

The report by the commission’s head Justice Qazi Faez Isa has been variously described as an indictment of the government or a charge-sheet against it, particularly federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who has been mentioned by name.

More than three years after coming into power, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has still not been able to convince many critics that it means business while fighting the war against terrorism. Some of the opposition parties are questioning its commitment to this critical fight and accusing it of maintaining links with proscribed organisations for political gains. The PML-N has been forcefully denying these allegations and presenting its record as a proof of its key role in the war against terrorism.

However, the commission’s report cannot be easily dismissed despite the interior minister’s anger over it and his claim that it is one-sided and, therefore, he will challenge its findings at every forum. The author of the report has impeccable credentials as a judge. The 57-year old Justice Qazi Faez Isa was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple) in 1982 and practiced for 27 years as a lawyer after his return to Pakistan. He used to write regularly for daily Dawn on legal and environment issues and co-authored the book Mass Media Laws and Regulations in Pakistan, and wrote the report Balochistan: Case and Demand.

In an unusual move, Qazi Faez Isa was directly appointed as the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court on August 5, 2009 when all the judges of the court resigned following the Supreme Court verdict declaring the emergency proclaimed by President General Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007 as unconstitutional. He was elevated as judge of the Supreme Court on September 5, 2014.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa belongs to a prominent political family of Balochistan and is a well-read and knowledgeable man. His father, late Qazi Mohammad Isa, hailing from Pishin district was a freedom-fighter, a foreign-qualified lawyer and a top Muslim Leaguer. The founder of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had appointed him the President of Muslim League in Balochistan. His grandfather, Qazi Jalaluddin, served as the prime minister of the state of Kalat. His mother, Begum Saida Isa, was a respected social worker who worked for the promotion of education, children and women’s issues.

This isn’t the first time that Justice Qazi Faez Isa has attracted attention for delivering a tough judgement. His hard-hitting dissenting note in February 2016 in the Houbara Bustard hunting case made headlines in the media as he argued that there was no need to constitute a larger bench for reviewing the verdict authored by him as part of the three-member bench headed by the then Chief Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. As a judge and environmentalist, he had been critical of issuing permits for large-scale hunting of the Houbara Bustard migrating to parts of Pakistan from Siberia in Russia.

The commission’s report is clear and well-reasoned. It has pointed out the fact that the Civil Hospital, Quetta is dysfunctional and without basic facilities run by employees with no work ethic. It said the lives of numerous injured patients were saved upon receiving prompt treatment, but many more could have survived if the hospital wasn’t ill-equipped or if staff members weren’t absent or missing. The Balochistan health department was severely criticised for its failure to properly implement rules and overcome nepotism. A case in point highlighted by the report was the illegal appointment of at least four secretaries of health, including the incumbent who is brother of a retired Lt General who is presently a federal minister.

The report hasn’t named this minister, but it appears he is referring to Lt General (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa hasn’t spared anyone. The Frontier Corps was blamed for not responding to the civil administration in case of need and also for having an unclear role in respect of policing. The law-enforcing agencies were criticised for resorting to aerial firing in the aftermath of the suicide bombing at the hospital without regard to the serious consequences. He wrote that the Balochistan government’s credibility was undermined by the chief minister (Sanaullah Zehri), the home minister (Sarfaraz Bugti) and their spokesman by making irresponsible statements containing fabricated leaks that disrupted investigation and created false expectations.

The federal ministry of religious affairs and inter-faith harmony was described as moribund. The non-registration and monitoring of the madaris (seminaries) was also highlighted along with lack of proper monitoring of the country’s western borders. The media also came in for criticism and it was recommended that the media organisations broadcasting the views of terrorists must be prosecuted in accordance with the law.

The most severe criticism was directed at the federal government and its institutions. The interior ministry was said to be confused about its role and failing to implement its National Security Internal Policy. The report noted that the National Action Plan wasn’t a plan in any structured or meaningful way and its goals weren’t being monitored or implemented. It maintained that the Anti-Terrorism Act was being violated as proscribed organisations continue to operate.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was charge-sheeted seven times for displaying little sense of ministerial responsibility, calling only one meeting of NACTA’s executive committee in over three and a half years. He was also accused of meeting the head of a proscribed organisation, and accepting its demands regarding CNICs, and failing and delaying proscribing terrorist organisations.

No wonder then that the minister is furious and the way he reacted prompted opposition politicians to demand his resignation.

The report also highlighted the absence of counter-terrorism coordination between various agencies, the slow action against hate-speech and radicalisation, the powerlessness of NACTA and the absence of a proper counter-narrative against extremism.

There was also praise for Punjab government for setting up state-of-the-art forensic laboratory in a short time and for immediate payment of compensation, the unidentified person who helped in identification of the suicide bomber, Dr Shehla Sami for her dedication to her job, the cops and others for their sense of duty and bravery and even the Wifaqul Madaris representing the seminaries for its forthright and positive contribution.

Overall, it is a comprehensive and excellent report penned by a judge known as independent-minded and competent. He has exposed without fear or favour the shortcomings of the government and its departments, and gives concise recommendations to tackle the issue of terrorism.