CJP Afridi administers oath to newly-appointed SC judges

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Yahya Afridi administered oath on Friday to six newly appointed SC judges at a ceremony in Islamabad, Aaj News reported.

The ceremony was attended by the judges of Supreme Court and lawyers.

The newly sworn-in judges are Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, Justice Shakeel Ahmad, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim.

Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb of Islamabad High Court took oath as Acting Judge of the top court.

Moreover, President Asif Ali Zardari administered oath to Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar as the Acting Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court.

On Monday, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the names of these high court judges for SC amidst opposition from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and lawyers’ community.

PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Senator Ali Zafar and two SC judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar had boycotted the JCP’s meeting.

Moreover, lawyers have been divided on the issue of elevation of the judges to the Supreme Court.

A section of the lawyers said that the process should be deferred until the decision on the court challenges to 26th Constitutional Amendment, and the recent transfer of three judges to the IHC.

Meanwhile, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Aalia Neelum administered oath on Monday to newly-appointed nine additional judges of the LHC in a simple ceremony.

The new judges include Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom, Malik Waqar Haider Awan, Sardar Akbar Ali, Syed Ahsan Raza Kazmi, Malik Javed Iqbal Wains, Muhammad Jawad Zafar, Khalid Ishaq, Malik Muhammad Awais Khalid, and Chaudhry Sultan Mahmood.

After the new appointments, the strength of judges in the LHC has reached 43 against the sanctioned strength of 60.