Ex-CJP Justice Jillani honoured with Int’l Justice Excellence Award

THE HAGUE (92 News) – Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani was awarded the International Justice Excellence Award for promoting justice at home and around the world in Holland. At a ceremony held here in the Netherlands, the International Institute for Justice (IIJE) bestowed on Justice Jillani the award for his outstanding contribution to the global elevation of the principles of justice in Pakistan and the international community. Having served at the Lahore High Court (LHC), it was Justice Jillani who took the suo moto notice of the 2013 Peshawar church bombings that had left 83 people dead and more than 140 injured. “Judge Jillani is currently sitting Ad Hoc on the International Court of Justice in The Hague, is the former Chief Justice of Pakistan and Justice of the High Court of Lahore, among many other notable achievements,” reads a statement issued by the IIJE. Past awardees include The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Right Honourable Lord Harry Woolf of the United Kingdom. The former CJP has highlighted the threat to democracies by hate speech on the Internet and has offered suggestions to curb such divisive language while maintaining freedom of expression. In reference to suo moto actions regarding the suicide bomb attack of September 22, 2013 on a Church in Peshawar and regarding threats to the Kalash tribe and Ismailies in Chitral, justice Jillani, the then chief justice, in part stated in his opinion: “The International Institute for Justice Excellence adheres to the belief that intolerance undermines public confidence in the principle of equal access to justice. That one’s conscience is only free when there is no fear in exercising rights granted by law,” it said. The event was held in the Grand Foyer of the Peace palace where ICJ President Yousuf was keynote speaker.