On Monday, a historic moment for Pakistan’s judicial system as Justice Ayesha Malik has sworn in as the first female judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Daily Times reported.
Justice Ayesha takes an oath in a ceremony inside the Supreme Court building. The oath was administered by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, while Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who has been nominated as the next top judge of Pakistan, and other SC judges, also attended the ceremony.
Moreover, CJP Gulzar while addressing the ceremony said that no one can take the credit for Justice Ayesha’s appointment as an SC judge.
“Justice Ayesha has been appointed on the basis of her merit,” the CJP said.
However, the number of judges at the Supreme Court has reached its maximum capacity of 17.
Out of the 17 judges appointed in the Supreme Court, Justice Ayesha Malik has been nominated for the seat which became vacant after the retirement of Justice Mushir Alam on August 17.
On January 6, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) recommended the elevation of Justice Ayesha A Malik of the Lahore High Court (LHC) as a judge of the Supreme Court.
According to her profile on the Lahore High Court’s website, she did her B.Com from the Government College of Commerce and Economics, Karachi and studied law at Lahore’s Pakistan College of Law.
She completed her LLM from Harvard Law School, where she was named London H Gammon Fellow 1999-1999.
She became LHC judge on March 27, 2012, and during her nine years and 10 months tenure as LHC judge, she made a record of deciding over 35,000 cases.
It is pertinent to mention here that Justice Ayesha Malik was ranked fourth in the Lahore High Court in terms of seniority, but is widely respected as a capable judge.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry shared a picture of Justice Ayesha taking the oath to congratulate her.
A powerful picture symbolises the women empowerment in Pakistan, I hope she will be an asset to our Judicial hierarchy… Congratulations #JusticeAyeshaMalik a land mark elevation pic.twitter.com/BZplrXquOK
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) January 24, 2022
“A powerful picture symbolises the women empowerment in Pakistan, I hope she will be an asset to our Judicial hierarchy… Congratulations #JusticeAyeshaMalik a land mak elevation,” Fawad wrote.
Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also took to Twitter to acknowledge Justice Ayesha’s appointment.
Historic moment — first woman judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/vVlZGlOm2X
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) January 24, 2022
پاکستان کی عدلیہ میں نئی تاریخ رقم
جسٹس عائشہ ملک سپریم کورٹ کی پہلی خاتون جج بن گئیں
سپریم کورٹ کی پہلی خاتون جج عائشہ ملک نے اپنے عہدے کا حلف اٹھا لیا#justiceayeshamalik pic.twitter.com/jit4odEVh5— Maryam Nawaz (@maryamnawazkhan) January 24, 2022
A historic moment in the judicial history of Pakistan where a first woman,Justice Ayesha Malik takes oath as judge of Supreme Court.What an inspirational moment for women of this country!
— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) January 24, 2022