Justice Qazi Faez Isa was sworn in as the 29th chief justice of Pakistan on Sunday. His first act as the CJP was to form a full court to hear challenges to the law clipping the top judge’s powers. The hearing is today(Monday).
He was administered the oath of office by President Arif Alvi during a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir were also in attendance, along with all judges of the apex court.
The ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran, following which the notification for Justice Isa’s appointment was read out. The president then administered the oath to Justice Isa, whose wife Sarina Isa stood by his side.
Born in Quetta on October 26, 1959, Justice Qazi Faez Isa 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, Isa moved to Karachi to finish his ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from the Karachi Grammar School (KGS). He then went on to study 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 over 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.
From time to time, he was called upon by the High Courts and the Supreme Court as amicus curiae and rendered assistance in certain complicated cases. He has also conducted international arbitration. Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 5, 2014.
