‘Not a wise decision’: Justice Isa’s presence in NA moot triggers debate

• Justice Isa should not have gone to the parliament in present circumstances, says PTI.
• “He should not have attended constitution celebrations in time of such political turmoil," former president SHBA.
• Naseem Zehra says Justice Isa is a "maverick", he does things that judges don’t normally do.

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Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s presence at the National Assembly convention marking the golden jubilee of the Constitution of Pakistan has triggered a new debate among legal minds and politicians.

The top court judge was seated in the front row along with the politicians belonging to the ruling coalition.

Talking to The News, Supreme Court lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said: “First of all, the issue is that Justice Qazi Faez Isa does not represent the SC; it is always the CJP [who does so]. 

"And Justice Isa was not nominated by the CJP to represent the SC either. And then it seems other judges opted not to go to the event so it was not a wise decision [for Justice Isa] to go there at such a charged time. And then they made him sit right with all these politicians. The problem is: when you go to political events, it invites political commentary. Why make things controversial?”

SAPM Tarar backs Justice Isa

However, SAPM on Interior and Legal Affairs Attaullah Tarar feels differently: “I don’t understand what this criticism is about. Had [Justice Isa] endorsed political views, they would have every right to criticise him. 

"Had he spoken about politics or political parties, they could have criticised him in whatever manner they deemed fit. But here a judge is speaking just about the constitution and is not endorsing any political views.”

He adds that: “The Golden Jubilee of the constitution is an occasion that should have been celebrated. And we were fortunate enough that the senior puisne judge of the SC joined us on the floor of parliament. And it wasn’t only the judiciary that was invited; a cross-section of society was there including VCs of universities, academia, civil society and human rights activists.”

According to Attaullah Tarar, because a judge attended this convention, "it granted the convention further legitimacy.”

‘Justice Isa shouldn’t have gone to parliament’

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said Justice Qazi Faez Isa should not have attended the joint session of parliament. 

In a statement, he said the judge must have kept this in mind that he was going to a parliament which was trying to limit the power of the court. “He should not have gone there in the present circumstances. He was embarrassed in the parliament,” he added.

‘Perceptions matter’

Amidst heavy commentary on Twitter regarding Justice Isa’s appearance at the convention, former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed summarised his thoughts thus:

“[Justice Isa] should not have attended constitution celebrations in [the] assembly in time of such political turmoil. Perceptions matter! Even if he went, [should] have sat separately. But those calling it misconduct or unprecedented are uninformed. Here’s [photo attached in a tweet] CJP Jamali addressing Senate in 2014.”

‘Error of judgment’

Lawyer and TV talk show host Muneeb Farooq tolds The News that he does “not have any objection with regard to Justice Isa’s presence at the convention. It was a day to celebrate and he gave a decent speech [during which] not once but twice he distanced himself by saying he did not subscribe to any of the political speeches being made in parliament.”

But Farooq too noted the optics problem.

“It may have been an error of judgment on [Justice Isa’s] part to have come there in such a polarised environment where anyone could have expected that political speeches would have gone on”.

‘Worse optics’

Tweeting about the honourable judge’s attendance at the event, lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii writes that “Justice Qazi Faez [Isa] holding up the Constitution and speaking in parliament to the applause of a coalition government which is hell-bent upon subverting it”, adding: “What could possibly be worse optics at a fragile and fractured time for the Supreme Court?”

'All SC judges should have attended the event'

There are those though who are of the opinion that other judges too should have been there, with lawyer Ahmad Rafay Alam commenting on social media that “If invitations were sent, the right thing would have been for all the judges of the SC to have attended this important event to commemorate a historic day.”

‘He’s a maverick’

For journalist and political commentator Nasim Zehra, “the content of [Justice Isa's] speech was spot on as far as the occasion was concerned.”

But, she said: “Of course, we have to live with the reality that optics do matter in a highly polarised environment so yes the optics do raise questions over whether he should have gone to the convention.”

She does reiterate though that “as we know, [Justice Isa] doesn’t represent any political side. He’s a maverick, he does things that judges don’t normally do....so one would see this more in that light than him standing for any political side.”

NA responds to criticism

The NA spokesperson has also clarified some details regarding the event, saying that a cross-section of guests had been invited, including the honourable chief justice of Pakistan and CJs of all four provinces including GB and AJK.