Supreme_Court_of_Pakistan,_Islamabad_by_Usman_Ghani

Tassaduq Hussain Jillani (born 6 July 1949) is a Pakistani judge who served as the 21st Chief Justice of Pakistan from 2013 to 2014. He previously served as a Justice of the Supreme Court from 2004, after being nominated Justice of the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Benazir Bhutto in 1994. Born in

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

, Jillani was educated at

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by America ...

and

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

. He served as Advocate General Punjab in 1993 before his elevation as judge. As Justice of the Supreme Court, Jillani refused to take oath under General

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

during

emergency rule A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

in 2007, and his post was rendered nonfunctional. After the

Lawyers' Movement The Lawyers' Movement, also known as the Movement for the Restoration of Judiciary or the Black Coat Protests, was the popular mass protest movement initiated by the lawyers of Pakistan in response to the former president and army chief Pervez Mus ...

, he was restored to the bench in 2009. Considered a progressive judge, Jillani was a strong proponent of civil liberties and

fundamental rights Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...

, authoring landmark decisions on

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, honour killings, and the

right to education The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for ...

.The News: ''Mr Jillani, the new Chief Justice of Pakistan'', December 25, 2013
/ref> He also authored the ''

suo moto In law, ''sua sponte'' (Latin: "of his, her, its or their own accord") or ''suo motu'' ("on its own motion") describes an act of authority taken without formal prompting from another party. The term is usually applied to actions by a judge taken wi ...

'' decision on the protection of minorities and

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...

after the

Peshawar church attack On 22 September 2013, a twin suicide bombing took place at All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan, in which 127 people were killed and more than 250 injured. It was the deadliest attack on the Christian minority in the history of Pakistan. Bo ...

in 2013, widely held as the broadest interpretation of religious freedom laws in Pakistan's history. His name was proposed for caretaker prime minister by opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2018.

Early life and education

Tassaduq Hussain Jillani was born in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. After graduating from high school, Jillani attended Government Emerson College Multan and

Forman Christian College University Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by Ameri ...

, where he earned BA and MS degrees in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. He then gained a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

from the Punjab University. On a Higher Education Commission scholarship, Jillani later completed a course in

constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

from the

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) is a member institute of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Founded in 1947, it is a national academic centre of excellence, serving the legal community and universities across the ...

of the

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. Jillani was honoured with a "

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in ''Humane letters''" from Southern Virginia University in a special convocation on 12 October 2007.

Legal career

After completing his studies, Jillani started his

law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

in 1974, in the district courts of

. After enrolling as an advocate at the

, he was elected General Secretary of the

Lahore High Court Bar Association The Lahore High Court Bar Association ( ur, ) is situated in Lahore. Lahore Bar (presently Lahore High Court Bar) as a collective group took birth somewhere before 1892-93 and its first President was elected in 1893. In 1910 the Executive C ...

in 1976, and became a member of the

Punjab Bar Council The Punjab Bar Council ( ur, ) is a deliberative assembly of lawyers in Punjab. It is established by Parliament of Pakistan and consists of 75 members elected from different constituencies of Punjab. Its main functions are to promote and sugges ...

in 1978. He was appointed Assistant Advocate-General of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

in July 1979 and enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 1983. In 1988, he was promoted to Additional Advocate-General of Punjab, before becoming Advocate-General of the province in 1993.

Judicial career

On 7 August 1994, Jillani was elevated as a judge of the

after his nomination was approved by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He was elevated to the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...

in 2004 by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Emergency rule suspension and reinstatement

On 7 November 2007, Jillani was one of the senior justices who refused to take a fresh oath of office, following the imposition of emergency rule by military ruler

. The justices regarded the

Provisional Constitutional Order The Provisional Constitutional Order, popularly known as PCO, is an emergency and extra-constitutional order that suspends either wholly or partially the Constitution of Pakistan — the supreme law of land. The PCO fulfills and acts as the temp ...

law by which to take oath, instituted by Musharraf, as unconstitutional. Jillani was among the senior justices that were forcefully retired and detained directly from the Supreme Court. This exacerbated the

against the Musharraf regime, and led to the reinstatement of the suspended

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

23 March Events Pre-1600 * 1400 – The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official. * 1540 – Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last r ...

2009. Prime Minister Gilani announced that President

Asif Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakista ...

had issued an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

that restored the pre-Emergency

, including the Chief Justice

Iftikhar Chaudhry Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ( ur, ; born 12 December 1948) is a Pakistani jurist who served as the 20th Chief Justice of Pakistan over three non-consecutive terms from 29 June 2005 to 11 December 2013. Chaudhry began practice as an advocate of ...

. All deposed justices accepted reappointment. On 31 July 2009, a full 14-member bench including Jillani held the declaration of emergency and imposition of PCO illegal and invalid.See further details on judicial ''Provisional Constitutional Order Case vs. the Judicature system of Pakistan'' It also held that the removal of all justices from the higher judiciary was not valid, and that the reappointment of justices had no legal effect as their removal in the first place was not valid.

Acting Chief Election Commissioner

On 17 August 2013, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry appointed Jillani to act as Chief Election Commissioner with immediate effect till the appointment of a new Commissioner. He succeeded former Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, who resigned from the office on 30 July 2013. His appointment as chief election commissioner was secured through the by-election clauses of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Chief Justice of Pakistan

After appointing the

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) ( ur, ) is, in principle, the highest-ranking and senior most uniformed military officer, typically at four-star rank, in the Pakistan Armed Forces who serves as a Principal Staff Officer and ...

, Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

approved the nomination papers of Senior Justice Jillani to be elevated as Chief Justice, upon the constitutional retirement of the Chief Justice

which due for 12 December 2013. Per Prime Minister

Sharif Sharīf ( ar, شريف, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef or sherif, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, f ...

's nomination, President

Mamnoon Hussain Mamnoon Hussain ( ur, ; 22 December 1941 – 14 July 2021) was a Pakistani politician and industrialist who served as the 12th president of Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. He was first appointed Governor of Sindh in June 1999 by President Rafiq ...

approved the appointment the same day. Upon approval of his nomination, Senior Justice Jillani immediately resigned as Chief Election Commissioner and passed the office to fellow Senior Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk. On 12 December 2013, President

, alongside chaired with Prime Minister

, administered the

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

to J Senior Justice Jillani as the Chief Justice. Immediately after his

, Justice Jillani declined special security protocol, and directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar not to impose restrictions on commuters during his passage. He also took ''

suo motu In law, ''sua sponte'' (Latin: "of his, her, its or their own accord") or ''suo motu'' ("on its own motion") describes an act of authority taken without formal prompting from another party. The term is usually applied to actions by a judge taken wi ...

'' action against the court administration for allowing only one news channel to exclusively cover the full-court reference in honour of the outgoing Justice Chaudhry. Justice Chaudhry's principal secretary was found to be involved, and was transferred to the human rights cell as a result.

''Suo Moto Case 1 of 2014''

The Jillani Court took ''suo moto'' action following a petition filed by Justice Helpline regarding the

in 2013, as well as other petitions filed by the Hindu community against desecration of their

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

and press reports citing threats to the Kalash tribe by the

Pakistani Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...

. On 19 June 2014, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on the protection of minorities and

, authored by Justice Jillani in a bench also comprising Justices Azmat Saeed and Mushir Alam. The decision's expansion of freedom of religious expression in Pakistan has been compared to ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

'' outlawing

segregation in the United States In the United States, racial segregation is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as Housing in the United States, housing, Healthcare in the United States, healthcare, Education in the United States, education, Employment in ...

World Justice Project

Tassaduq Hussain Jillani serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the

World Justice Project The World Justice Project (WJP) is an international civil society organization with the stated mission of "working to advance the rule of law around the world". It produces the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, a quantitative assessment ...

. The

works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity. In July 2008, when Senior Justice Jillani was invited by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

to receive and accept the Rule of Law Award on behalf of those judges of Pakistan who demonstrated courage in upholding the Rule of Law in the country, he penned:

Judicial philosophy

Jillani was considered a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and progressive judge, and at times described as the most moderate member of the Supreme Court. He was a proponent of the "

living constitution The Living Constitution, or judicial pragmatism, is the viewpoint that the United States Constitution holds a dynamic meaning that evolves and adapts to new circumstances even if the document is not formally amended. The Constitution is said ...

", but often emphasized a " trichotomy of powers" and judicial restraint in the aftermath of the Chaudhry Court. While hearing a case related to

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

redundancies, Jillani's

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

notably read as it was "for the bank management to decide about the usefulness of the employees"— an unusual ruling in a court known for its populist judgments.

Personal life

Jillani is the son of Muhammad Ramzan Shah Jillani. He is married to Khalida Jillani, and they have three sons and a daughter. Jillani is the uncle of former Foreign Secretary Jalil Jilani, and a distant relation to former

Yusuf Raza Gilani Yusuf Raza Gilani (Urdu: ; born 9 June 1952), is a Pakistani politician who served as 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 25 March 2008, until his retroactive disqualification and ouster by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 26 April 2012. He ...

Library and literary enthusiasm

Justice Jillani is described as an avid enthusiast of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

and classical films. When a biographical documentary on him was aired on

news channels News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televi ...

, a retired librarian of the Supreme Court building, Muhammad Aslam, quoted that "Justice Jillani managed the affairs of the library and made sure to add thousands of new judicial and non-judicial books to its shelves. He also authored and penned a theme song, '' Justice for All!'', sung by various Pakistan's

singers Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

at the 50th Anniversary of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The song has been declared as the Judicial Anthem of Pakistan by former Chief Justice

Works

*Jillani, Tassaduq H.
Defending the Constitution under the Rule of Law
, ''American Bar Association Press'', 2009. *Jillani, Tassaduq H
The Rule of Law in an Age of Globalized Interdependence
''American Bar Association'' *Jillani, Tassaduq H. "Women in Law" ''International Bar Association Annual Conference, Dubai'', 2011 *Jillani, Tassaduq H
Towards a dynamic constitutional order
Supreme Court of Pakistan Press (1971),

ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She ...

: B0014N4DQY

References

External links

*
Movement for Rule of Law
', Related to Lawyers Movement Pakistan. *
Chief Justice News
', covering the issue since 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jillani, Tassaduq Hussain 1949 births Living people Chief justices of Pakistan Chief Election Commissioners of Pakistan Forman Christian College alumni Government Emerson College alumni Pakistani judges Pakistani jurists Pakistani scholars People from Multan University of the Punjab alumni