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ISLAMABAD: The newly-appointed judges of the Supreme Court took oath on Friday in a in a swearing-in ceremony headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi at the apex court.
The new judges include former Balochistan High Court (BHC) chief justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, ex-Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, SHC senior puisne judge Salahuddin Panhwar, Peshawar High Court (PHC) judge Shakeel Ahmad, ex-Islamabad High Court (IHC) chief justice Aamer Farooq, and ex-PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, whose appointments had been approved by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Meanwhile, CJP Afridi also administered an oath to Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb as an acting apex court judge.
The Ministry of Law and Justice had notified the elevation of these six judges on Thursday after their appointment by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) and the president’s approval.
Moreover, President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to Justice Sarfraz Dogar, who has been sworn-in as Islamabad High Court’s acting chief justice.
Separately, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori administered the oath to acting SHC Chief Justice Junaid Ghaffar in an oath-taking ceremony in Karachi. His appointment was also notified by the law ministry.
Meanwhile, Justice Attique Shah was also sworn in as acting PHC top judge in an oath taking ceremony in Peshawar. KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath to him.
Justice Ejaz Swati, meanwhile, has taken oath as the acting chief justice of the Balochistan High Court. The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Governor House in Quetta, where Governor Sheikh Jaffar Mandokhail administered the oath to Justice Swati.
The acting judges will serve their posts till the appointment of a regular justice in their place.
Apart from notifying the six SC judges, the government also issued notification of the appointment of IHC’s Justice Aurangzeb as the SC acting judge in light of the JCP’s decision earlier this week.
The judges’ elevation issue was not left without controversy. It may be noted that 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.
The PTI senator along with four SC judges including Justice Shah, Justice Akhtar, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Athar Minallah had called on the CJP to postpone the JCP meeting “till the challenge to the 26th Constitutional Amendment is decided one way or the other”.
This was followed by another letter by Senator Zafar calling for the deferment of the JCP huddle until the controversy surrounding the seniority of IHC judges was settled.
Whereas Justice Dogar — transferred from LHC — has also been notified as the acting chief justice of the same court with effect from the date he takes oath of his office, till the appointment of a regular chief justice.
His transfer and subsequent change in the seniority list of the IHC itself was not without controversy as seven IHC judges — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Saman Rafat Imtiaz and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb — had written to the CJP as well as high courts’ chief justices against it.
Justice Kayani, Justice Jahangiri, Justice Sattar, Justice Ishaq Khan and Justice Imtiaz then further sent a representation to now-former IHC CJ Justice Farooq raising their concerns on the seniority issue.
