KARACHI: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice (Retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, has been awarded the 2020 J. Clifford Wallace Award by the J. Reuben Clark Law Society (JRCLS) to honour his "extraordinary career as a judge and a jurist".

The JRCLS's Judges Committee and the Board of Directors moved to present Justice Jillani the 2020 J. Clifford Wallace Award "in recognition of his years of distinguished service in Pakistan and his contributions to strengthen the rule of law internationally".

The former judge will receive the accolade at the JRCLS Annual Convention scheduled for February 27-29, 2020, in the Phoenix, Arizona. 

Justice Jillani's decorated career as a judge spanned thirty years, from 1994 to 2014, during which he also served as Pakistan’s representative judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. He is currently the co-chair of the World Justice Project (WJP).

Also read: Ex-CJP Jillani honoured with Justice Excellence Award by IIJE

Judge Clifford Wallace — retired Chief Justice Christine Durham of the Utah Supreme Court — was the 2018 recipient of the eponymous award for “service to the administration of justice beyond the judge’s ordinary responsibilities.”

Earlier this year, the former CJP — who believes that providing justice to the people is an act of worship — was honoured with the International Justice Excellence Award by the International Institute for Justice Excellence (IIJE) for promoting justice at home and around the world. At a ceremony held in the Netherlands, he was lauded "for his outstanding contribution to the global elevation of the principles of justice in Pakistan and the international community".

Last year, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had suggested Justice Jillani's name for the country's caretaker prime minister, alongside economist Ishrat Hussain.

In 2017, he was also nominated as the ad-hoc judge at the ICJ to defend Pakistan in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. He also authored the Supreme Court’s judicial anthem and was among the apex court judges who refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order on November 3, 2007.