Justice Isa turns up at SC as wife's emissary.

Byline: Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD -- Attired in a grey suit, Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Wednesday wrote history when he entered the Courtroom No 1 as a messenger of his wife to seek an audience for her via video link and satisfy the Supreme Court's 10-judge full court about the source of three-offshore properties in her and children's name.

However, the bench reminded the petitioner judge that they had complete respect for him and it was not appropriate for him to appear when the message could have been conveyed through his counsel Muneer A. Malik, as the former might overcome with emotions.

When Justice Isa came, Dr Farogh Nasim, the counsel for the federal government, was occupying the rostrum to justify the filing of the presidential reference against Justice Isa.

Justice Isa's appearance is being dissected by legal observers against the backdrop of Tuesday's proposal by the Supreme Court that the government could pursue the reference before the Supreme Judicial Council after first exhausting tax proceedings at the Federal Board of Revenue.

The government side, which had taken a day to respond, acceded to the SC suggestion, as Dr Nasim explained that he met Prime Minister Imran Khan whohad no objection to the proposal provided the judge and his wife assured the tax commissioner of their cooperation.

The counsel said the prime minister also denied of having any properties in the UK and said he was ready to resign and the properties should be confiscated if proved that they belonged to him. Former PM's aide Firdous Ashiq Awan took the same position, he said apparently in response to Justice Isa's recent application about their undisclosed offshore properties along with those allegedly belonging to Assets Recovery Unity (ARU) chairman Shahzad Akbar.

Justice Bandial observed that both sides played to the galleries instead of showing patience. Sitting at the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court, Mr Malik said he was reaching Islamabad on Thursday to re-consult his client.

The appearance of the judge, however, sparked a raging debate in the courtroom during a short break when the court retired for consultation on Justice Isa's request seeking an audience for his wife via video link.

On Wednesday, Justice Isa began his assertion before the full court by stating that for the first time he understood the real meaning of the Quranic verse that persecution was worse than death, also beseeching the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings after...