Justice Sarfraz Dogar took oath as the new Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad. President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath, marking a key moment for the judiciary. Many senior lawyers and top officials, including Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz, attended the event.
Earlier, Chief Justices of Sindh and Peshawar High Courts also took their oaths. Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar was sworn in as Sindh High Court Chief Justice by Governor Kamran Tessori, while Justice S.M. Atiq Shah took oath as Peshawar High Court Chief Justice from Governor Faisal Karim Kundi.
Justice Sarfraz Dogar’s appointment was approved on July 1 by the Judicial Commission, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi. The meeting also confirmed Justice Rozi Khan as Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court. These appointments aim to strengthen judicial leadership across provinces.
On June 29, President Zardari officially declared Justice Sarfraz Dogar the senior-most judge of the Islamabad High Court and confirmed his permanent transfer to the court. This followed the Supreme Court’s directive to update the seniority list of IHC judges.
The new seniority list places Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani second and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb third. The notification also made permanent the transfers of Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio and Justice Muhammad Asif. Meanwhile, five IHC judges recently filed an appeal against a Supreme Court verdict related to judges’ transfers, but the petition was dismissed.