ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday appointed Justice Ayesha A Malik as the judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Justice Ayesha is the first female judge, elevated to the Supreme Court, an important step towards improving gender diversity in the judiciary. She holds a Master in Laws (LLM) from Harvard Law School, USA.

According to the notice issued by the Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice on Friday; “President is pleased to appoint Justice Ayesha A Malik, a judge of Lahore High Court as the judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.”

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on January 6, 2022 with the majority of five to four recommended the elevation of Justice Ayesha to the apex court, while the Parliamentary Committee (PC) on Judges Appointment a day ago approved her appointment.

JCP recommends name of Justice Ayesha for SC

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, former Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani, Federal Minister of Law and Justice Farogh Naseem, and Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed approved Justice Ayesha’s name, while Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and the Pakistan Bar Council representative, Akhtar Hussain, opposed.

Justice Ayesha is the first female judge to sit in the Supreme Court. She became the judge of the LHC in March 2012 and was number four on the high court judges’ seniority list. She will work as a Supreme Court judge until June 2031. She will also become Chief Justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Yahya Afridi in January 2030.

Justice Ayesha became a LHC judge in March 2012 and was at number four on the LHC judge seniority list. Before her appointment as a judge of the LHC, she taught law as a lecturer of Banking Law at the University of Punjab and a lecturer of Mercantile Law at the College of Accounting & Management Sciences in Karachi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022