Sarina Isa challenges PM to a debate

Sarina Isa, the wife of Supreme Court judge Qazi Faez Isa, has written an open letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, challenging him to a live-televised debate on her London properties.

In the 3-page letter, Sarina has accused the incumbent PTI government of filing a reference against her husband in 2019 with a mala fide intention to force him to resign for writing the Faizabad case verdict.

According to the letter, the reference and the subsequent investigation by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) were timed in a way to exert maximum pressure on the senior judge and his family.

The federal government in June 2019 filed a presidential reference against Justice Isa with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), claiming that Justice Isa had committed misconduct by not disclosing his family members’ foreign properties in his wealth statement.

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The judge, Sarina and a number of other petitioners had later challenged the reference and the SJC proceedings in the apex court whose 10-judge larger bench on June 19, 2020 quashed the reference but tasked the FBR to conduct an inquiry into Sarina Isa and her children's London properties.

Justice Isa and other petitioners later filed a review petition against the SC’s split order and a 10-judge bench on April 26, 2021 set aside the June 19, 2020 order.

Talking with reference to the saga, Sarina said if the premier still had any doubts about her London properties, she was ready to hold a debate with him live on a TV channel where she would present her money trail as well as detail sources of her income.

She said the premier will also have to present the money trail of his foreign assets. “I will earnestly wait for your answer,” Sarina added.