JournalismPakistan.com | Published May 15, 2025 at 06:31 pm | JP Staff Report
Join our WhatsApp channelISLAMABAD — Dawn newspaper on Thursday faced criticism for publishing an article by Qazi Faez Isa, former chief justice of the Supreme Court, on its op-ed pages.
In his article, the former CJ talked about the Indus Water Treaty and the armed conflict between Pakistan and India. Qazi Faez became controversial after the bench he was heading deprived Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) of its poll symbol, the bat, weeks before the February 8, 2024, elections.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, former information minister, called upon Dawn to “apologize for publishing an article by a fascist who undermined Pakistan’s Constitution.”
Journalist Arif Noor, who has served as Resident Editor of Dawn, was also not impressed. “QFI now wants to school us about international law, after having taught us all about constitution ko izzat do.”
Shireen Mazari, a former minister for human rights, called Qazi Faez “absolutely shameless.” She also rubbished the article, saying it has nothing to offer on the issue of water between Pakistan and India. In another post on X, she said the former chief justice should have written about “how he massacred the judiciary & took over top position from the infamous CJ Justice Munir!.”
Veteran journalist Mariana Babar was surprised that Qazi Faez “crawled out of the woodwork.” Most of the comments on Dawn’s post regarding the article by Qazi Faez were about his role in derailing democracy as a biased judge. Some of the comments used abusive language.
Some other comments questioned Dawn's editorial standards, maintaining how they could allow a person accused of derailing the judiciary and democracy to write for them. “The man who singlehandedly destroyed the judiciary, helped rig the 2024 elections by stealing the mandate of a political party, and aided the establishment in unleashing tyranny on the people of Pakistan is now being given space to write an article in Dawn. Unbelievable.”
اسلام آباد — جمعرات کو ڈان اخبار نے سپریم کورٹ کے سابق چیف جسٹس قاضی فائز عیسیٰ کا ایک مضمون شائع کیا جس پر شدید تنقید کا سامنا کرنا پڑا۔ ان کے مضمون میں سندھ طاس معاہدے اور پاکستان و بھارت کے درمیان مسلح تنازعات پر بات کی گئی تھی۔ قاضی فائز عیسیٰ اس وقت متنازعہ بن گئے جب ان کی سربراہی میں بینچ نے 8 فروری 2024 کے انتخابات سے ہفتوں قبل پاکستان تحریک انصاف (پی ٹی آء) کو اس کا انتخابی نشان "بلّا" چھین لیا۔
سابق وزیر اطلاعات چوہدری فواد حسین نے ڈان پر زور دیا کہ وہ "ایک فاشسٹ کا مضمون شائع کرنے پر معافی مانگے جس نے پاکستان کے آئین کو نقصان پہنچایا"۔
ڈان کے سابق رہائشی ایڈیٹر صحافی عارف نور بھی متاثر نہیں ہوئے۔ انہوں نے کہا، "قاضی فائز عیسیٰ اب ہمیں بین الاقوامی قانون کے بارے میں سبق دینا چاہتے ہیں، حالانکہ انہوں نے خود آئین کی بے حرمتی کی ہے۔"
سابق وزیر انسانی حقوق شیریں مزاری نے قاضی فائز عیسیٰ کو "بالکل بے شرم" قرار دیا۔ انہوں نے مضمون کو مسترد کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ اس میں پاکستان اور بھارت کے درمیان پانی کے مسئلے پر کوئی قابل ذکر بات نہیں۔ ایک اور ایکس پوسٹ میں، انہوں نے کہا کہ سابق چیف جسٹس کو لکھنا چاہیے تھا کہ "انہوں نے کیسے عدلیہ کو تباہ کیا اور بدنام زمانہ چیف جسٹس منیر سے عہدہ چھینا!"
تجربہ کار صحافی ماریانا بابر کو حیرت ہوئی کہ قاضی فائز عیسیٰ "اچانک سے نمودار ہوئے"۔
ڈان کے سوشل میڈیا پر شائع ہونے والے قاضی فائز عیسیٰ کے مضمون پر زیادہ تر تبصرے ان کے جانبدار جج کے طور پر جمہوریت کو نقصان پہنچانے کے کردار پر تھے۔ کچھ تبصروں میں گستاخانہ زبان استعمال کی گئی۔
کچھ صارفین نے ڈان کے ادارتی معیارات پر سوال اٹھائے، کہتے ہوئے کہ وہ ایک ایسے شخص کو کیسے جگہ دے سکتے ہیں جس پر عدلیہ اور جمہوریت کو تباہ کرنے کا الزام ہے۔ ایک صارف نے لکھا: "وہ شخص جس نے اکیلے ہی عدلیہ کو تباہ کیا، 2024 کے انتخابات میں ایک سیاسی جماعت کا مینڈیٹ چوری کرکے دھاندلی میں مدد کی، اور Establishment کو عوام پر ظلم کرنے میں مدد دی، اب اسے ڈان میں مضمون لکھنے کی اجازت دی جا رہی ہے۔ ناقابل یقین!"
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