Daily Times

Since the government has faced considerable reverses in the frivolous presidential reference against Justice QaziFaez Isa, it has now deputed its social media trolls and a retired civil servant of dubious credibility, OryaMaqbool Jan, to try and undermine the role of Justice Isa’s father Qazi Muhammad Isa (or as he spelt his name Essa) in the Pakistan Movement. All sorts of weird stories are made about him. None of the lies concocted by OryaMaqbool Jan and the government’s vicious social media team can undo the facts of history.

Qazi Isa and his wife Piari Rasheed Qazi were close personal friends of Mr. Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam. When Mr Jinnah visited Quetta in the 1940s, it was at their house that he stayed. Both of them were tasked with the consolidation of the Muslim League in Balochistan. Mr. Jinnah’s correspondence with Qazi Isa can be found in the Jinnah Papers. Countless references to Qazi Isa’s incredible efforts aimed at consolidating the Muslim League. On 31 July 1942, Mr Jinnah appointed Qazi Isa a member of the working committee of the Muslim League. This document can be found at item No. 180 F.809/503 of Volume XVIII of the Jinnah Papers III Series.

Similarly on the same date, i.e. 31 July 1942,Mr Jinnah wrote the following to Qazi Isa: “I was really pleased to hear of the great success of the Baluchistan Muslim Conference. Your account was most heartening and made me very happy. The result you are witnessing is no less due to your magnificent efforts, which you have made in Baluchistan. A new life has been put in our people in this remote part of India by the efforts of yourself and your co-workers.” Mr. Jinnah ended his letter with the uncharacteristic personal touch “Hoping to meet you very soon. With kind regards to Mrs Isa and yourself from Miss Jinnah and myself.” This is item No. 175 F. 302/111 of the aforesaid volume of Jinnah Papers.

Now compare this to the lie that government’s trolls are propagating on social media. They claim that Jinnah refused to accept Qazi Isa’s bouquet and told him to study for 20 years. It boggles the mind how these geniuses come up with these stories. Isa was Jinnah’s closest confidant in Balochistan province. Without his efforts the referendum in British Balochistan would never have gone in favour of the Muslim League.

We are a strange country. We slandered and abused Jinnah’s right hand man Sir Zafrullah Khan who got us the Kashmir resolutions. In 1965 the government of the day left no stone unturned to prove that Fatima Jinnah, Quaid’s own sister, was a traitor to the country working against its integrity. Now in order to bring down a principled judge of the Supreme Court, the government is maligning the historic role of one of the founding fathers of Pakistan.

We are a strange country. We slandered and abused Jinnah’s right hand man Sir Zafrullah Khan who got us the Kashmir resolutions

Meanwhile a most devious lot, including lawyers with questionable integrity, is prosecuting his son. The presidential reference against Justice QaziFaez Isa is utterly frivolous. There is no basis for it. Neither his spouse nor his children were dependents under Sections 116 and 182 of the Income Tax Ordinance. The reference does not establish any dependency and fails all legal tests. It does not establish misconduct. It was the President’s discretionary function to form an opinion about misconduct but he abdicated that responsibility by proceeding blindly on the advice of the Federal Government. It is a case of the mala fides in law. If on the other hand President proceeded on the basis of his own opinion, then in the absence of the aforementioned evidence, it becomes a case of mala fides of fact. This would establish that the President of Pakistan is neither sagacious nor Ameen, and therefore arguably subject to disqualification under Article 62(1)F of the Constitution.

It does not end with the President. Questions must also be raised about the unethical conduct of the lawyers pursuing this matter. So weak is their case and so unethical their conduct, that their licences ought to be suspended by their respective bar councils in Pakistan. Justice Isa is right in asking how Shahzad Akbar was appointed the head of the Asset Recovery Unit. There is no transparent process by which such a mediocre person with no special qualifications could be appointed head of the Asset Recovery Unit. All guidelines were bypassed.

This mala fide presidential reference hits at the very core of the principle of independence of judiciary. It would mean that every time an upright judge hands down a principled verdict that the government disagrees with, he would be threatened by a baseless mala fide reference. Therefore one hopes that the Supreme Court will make an example out of this reference by getting to the nub of the matter and holding those who prepared this presidential reference to account.

The writer is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan