The former chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, is set to receive the 2023 ABA International Human Rights Award, a statement from the American Bar Association (ABA) announced recently. The jurist has been selected for the prize in recognition of “his courageous judgments against political impunity in a time of crisis and for defending judicial independence” in Pakistan.
The award will be presented on August 5 at the ABA Annual Meeting in Denver, USA. In conversation with Geo.tv, the judge who penned the song “Justice for All!” reflected on the accolade as a “vindication” for what he has stood for throughout his career. “This award to me is vindication for what I have stood for throughout my career. It is vindication for what I hold to be true and just and vindication for [my] stand that the Constitution and its values should be lived by people,” he said.
Known to be a “balanced” judge, Justice Jillani delivered key rulings of great significance on domestic and international concerns. These include his judgments enforcing fundamental rights, gender equality, declaring the right to education a fundamental right, holding that in an age of globalised inter-dependence, dual nationality should be permitted, laying down guidelines for qualitative improvement in legal and medical education, both in the Lahore High Court and the apex court.
However, perhaps, the two rulings that brought him to the foreground were the right of an adult woman to marry a person of her choice in Islam and his landmark ruling on minority rights in 2014, after he took suo moto notice of the matter of the protection of minorities.
