Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Sunday took oath as the 29th chief justice of Pakistan. Born in Quetta on October 26, 1959, he is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin, who was in the forefront of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Justice Isa’s father was the first person from the province to acquire the Bar-at-Law degree and helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan after his return from London. His father had served as the only member on the Central Working Committee of the All India Muslim League from Balochistan.
Begum Saida Isa, Justice Isa’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.
After completing his primary and secondary education in Quetta, young Isa moved to Karachi to finish his ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from the Karachi Grammar School (KGS). He studied law from London, where he completed his Bar Professional Examination from the Inns of Court School Law, London.
Justice Isa enrolled as an Advocate of the Balochistan High Court on January 30, 1985, and as an Advocate Supreme Court in March 1998.
He has practised law for more than 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.
Justice Isa became the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court on August 5, 2009. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court on September 5, 2014.
He strongly opposed taking the oath by judges under the Emergency and Interim Constitutional Order imposed by former President Pervez Musharraf in November 2007.
Justice Isa gave milestone judgements in many high profile cases. Let’s have a look at those decisions.
In 2012, Justice Isa chaired the Memogate Commission.
