PM Shehbaz Sharif orders withdrawal of curative review reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, calling it baseless and politically-motivated, ordered the withdrawal of a curative review reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The prime minister instructed Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar to withdraw the reference, saying that the government would not pursue the same for it being baseless and politically motivated, a PM Office statement said.

The federal cabinet had already approved the withdrawal of the reference in a meeting chaired by the prime minister.

“This was not a reference rather a victimization by revengeful Imran Niazi against an impartial person pursuing the course of constitution and the law. This was a conspiracy to usurp the independence of judiciary and create a division within,” the prime minister remarked.

He said while being in opposition, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and other coalition parties had opposed this frivolous reference.

The prime minister said that Imran Niazi had also made the President of Pakistan 'misuse' his office for this 'criminal act' who became an accomplice in an attack on the judiciary. He said that the lawyers’ bodies, including the Pakistan Bar Council, had had also opposed the reference and the government valued their opinion.