Pak's law minister resigns to represent govt in Supreme Court in case against judge

Pakistan's law minister Farogh Naseem on Monday resigned to defend the government in the Supreme Court in a case against Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Naseem, who belongs to Karachi, will appear on behalf of the government that last year filed a case in the apex court against Justice Isa, asking it to sack him for hiding the offshore companies owned by his wife and children.

The former law minister said that he stepped down on the "request of the prime minister of Pakistan" and "I'll represent the federation in the case and therefore I have tendered my resignation as the law minister." Isa is considered as an independent-minded judge who criticized the security establishment in the judgment of a case pertaining to the lockdown of Islamabad by a hardline cleric in 2017. Naseem was appointed as the law minister after he was elected in the 2018 general elections. It is for the second time that he resigned to represent the government in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, he resigned in November last year to represent the government in a case about the extension of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The case was settled after the government committed before the court to enact laws to address the issue of extension and later Naseem rejoined the Cabinet as the law minister.

A sitting minister cannot practice as a lawyer according to rules.