President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Justice Yahya Afridi as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), succeeding the current CJP, Qazi Faez Isa. Justice Afridi’s term will be for a fixed period of three years, starting on October 26, as stated by an official announcement from the Aiwan-e-Sadar on Wednesday morning.
The appointment follows the provisions of Articles 175A(3), 177, and 179 of the Constitution, and Justice Afridi will take his oath on October 26. The Special Parliamentary Committee, formed for the first time in Pakistan’s history to appoint the CJP, made the nomination on Tuesday night with a two-thirds majority.
Read more: Special Parliamentary Committee to Select Pakistan’s Next Chief Justice Today
The committee’s recommendation for Justice Afridi was forwarded to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who then secured approval from the President. This new method of appointing the Chief Justice comes after the implementation of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which stipulates that the CJP will be selected by a two-thirds majority vote of the Special Parliamentary Committee from the three most senior Supreme Court judges.
The committee includes members from all political parties in parliament, representing both the opposition and government sides. However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chose not to participate in the committee’s meetings.
Last week, the ruling coalition passed the judicial reforms through Parliament with significant support, gaining 225 votes in the National Assembly and 65 in the Senate. These constitutional changes were strongly opposed by PTI, which has promised to repeal the legislation upon returning to power, describing it as an attack on the judiciary’s independence.
PTI has also rejected Justice Afridi’s nomination as the new CJP and announced plans to launch protests against the decision of the Special Parliamentary Committee.
Who is Justice Yahya Afridi?
Justice Yahya Afridi was born on January 23, 1965, in Dera Ismail Khan. He hails from the Adam Khel section of the Afridi tribe in the Kohat Frontier Region and resides in Babari Banda, District Kohat. His family has a long tradition of public service.
He began his education at Aitchison College, Lahore, before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Government College Lahore. He later pursued a Master’s degree in Economics from Punjab University, Lahore.
Justice Afridi was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and completed his LLM at Jesus College, University of Cambridge. He also participated in a scholarship program for Young Commonwealth Lawyers at the Institute of Legal Studies in London.
He started his legal career in Peshawar, where he also lectured at Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar, teaching International Law, Labour Law, and Administrative Law. In 1990, he was enrolled as an advocate of the High Court, and in 2004, he was enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court. He also served as an Assistant Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and as a Federal Counsel for the Government of Pakistan.
Justice Afridi was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Peshawar High Court in 2010 and became a permanent judge on March 15, 2012. On December 30, 2016, he became the first judge from the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) to serve as Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court. He held that position until his elevation to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on June 28, 2018.
