Justice Qazi Faez Isa says SC holds suo motu powers, not CJP

ISLAMABAD: The senior judge of the Supreme Court (SC) Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that the Supreme Court holds the sou moto powers, not the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Speaking at a ceremony on the constitution of Pakistan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that history needs to be read to understand the recent events. He said that Pakistan was going through a tough time when the country was broken into two parts and Justice Munir sown the seeds in the federal court which led to the fall of Dhaka.

Justice Faez Isa informed the audience that the 1988 elections were held on a political and party base and Benazir Bhutto became the prime minister but Article 58 2(b) was introduced and a seed of hatred was sown.

He reiterated that lessons should be learned from the past otherwise history will keep on repeating itself.

Justice Faez Isa maintained that the word “suo motu” is not mentioned in the Constitution. He said that only the Supreme Court has the power to take a suo motu, not just the chief justice of Pakistan.

The senior Supreme Court judge further said that he refused Chief Justice Jawad Khawaja to hear a case. The Chief Justice asked the reason for not hearing the case. Justice Isa responded that this is not the Judges job to decide the matters related to the election, it is the ECP’s job instead and he also agreed to this statement.

Furthermore, in response to a question is it right to publicly oppose the chief justice or any other judge’s verdict, Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that Pakistan and the constitution of Pakistan are his home and all these matters are still inside the home.