JUSTICE (R) TASSADUQ HUSSAIN JILLANI Justice (R) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the 21st Chief Justice of Pakistan, was born on July 6, 1949 to a family that belonged to Khangarh. He got his education from Multan and Lahore, and started his professional career as a lawyer in 1974. He was appointed Advocate General Punjab in 1993, Judge of the Lahore Court in 1994, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2004. He also remained acting Chief Election Commissioner for around 4 months in 2013. On November 7, 2007, Justice Jillani was one of those senior judges of the Supreme Court who refused to take a fresh oath following the imposition of emergency rule by General Pervez Musharraf. In consequence, Justice Jillani, along with other judges, was forcefully retired and kept under detention. The move exacerbated the Lawyers' Movement against the Musharraf regime, and eventually led to the reinstatement of the suspended judiciary, including Justice Jillani, on March 23, 2009. On July 31, 2009, a full 14-member bench, including Justice Jillani, held the declaration of emergency and imposition of PCO illegal and invalid. On December 12, 2013 he was appointed the Chief Justice of Pakistan—an office he held until July 5, 2014. Considered a progressive judge, Justice Jillani has always been a strong proponent of civil liberties and fundamental rights, authoring landmark decisions on women's rights, honour killings, the right to education, and more. He also authored the decision in the suo moto case pertaining to the protection of minorities and freedom of religion after the Peshawar church attack in 2013, widely held as the broadest interpretation of religious freedom laws in Pakistan's history. In 2017, Justice Jillani was appointed judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice bench hearing the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in Hague. When the verdict was finally announced in July 2019, Justice Jillani gave a dissenting note, opposing the Indian point of view. Justice Jillani has not merely penned down landmark judgments, he has a keen interest in literature too. He had authored a theme song, Justice for All, which was sung by various Pakistani singers at the 50th Anniversary of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and was later regarded as the Judicial Anthem of Pakistan. The idea of establishing the Supreme Court Museum was also said to have been presented for the first time by him in 2010. Justice Jillani is widely respected in judicial circles and beyond. His name was even proposed for caretaker prime minister by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2018. He has also been awarded International Justice Excellence Award for promoting peace at home and around the world in a ceremony held at the International Institute for Justice, Netherlands on March 28, 2019. And finally at the Shan-e-Muzaffargarh Awards 2019 held on August 28, 2019, he was able to secure ‘Nishan-e-Muzaffargarh’, which was the highest award conferred on any living person in the ceremony held in recognition of all those sons and daughters of the soil who had won laurels for Muzaffargarh, nationally or internationally. .