KARACHI: Welcoming the recent judgement on Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s review petition, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday said the PTI government’s attempt to “blackmail, intimidate and harass an honourable judge of the Supreme Court has failed”.
The apex court – with a majority of 6 to 4 – on Monday had allowed the review petitions filed against its June 19, 2020 order for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to conduct an inquiry into the foreign properties of the family members of Justice Isa.
With this verdict, Justice Isa – who is in line to become the chief justice of Pakistan – was vindicated of the allegations leveled in a June 2020 presidential reference that claimed that the top court judge had committed misconduct by not disclosing his family members foreign assets in his wealth statement.
“It was an assault on the entire judiciary,” Bilawal said in a statement issued here.
The PPP chief also demanded accountability for those in the PTI government “who were part of this conspiracy”. He said the accountability process must start from Prime Minister Imran Khan, who he said initiated this reference with malafide intent of attacking the Supreme Court and attempted to send a message of fear to every independent judge in the country.
