ISLAMABAD – President Arif Alvi Friday approved the appointment of LahoreHigh Court’s (LHC) Justice Ayesha Malik as a judge of the Supreme Court.
The Ministry of Law and Justice has also issued a notification in thisregard, stating: “In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) ofArticle 177 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, thePresident is pleased to appointed Mrs. Justice Ayesha A. Malik, JudgeLahore High Court, Lahore as Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan witheffect from the date she makes oath of her office”.
The development comes a day after Parliamentary Committee on JudgesAppointment approved the nomination of Justice Ayesha Malik and recommendedher name to the president for the appointment.
Justice Ayesha will be the first female Supreme Court judge in the judicialhistory of Pakistan if appointed.
On Wednesday, Farooq H Naek, a member of the committee, said that thedecision was made in light of the gender of Justice Ayesha.
Earlier, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) had recommended her namefor appointment as the Supreme Court judge with a vote of five to four.
Earlier this month, a meeting of the JCP was held under the chairmanship ofChief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed, during which five outof nine members of the commission supported the appointment of JusticeAyesha Malik to the Supreme Court.
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CJP Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, retired judge Sarmad JalalOsmani, Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan and Law Minister DrFarogh Naseem endorsed her nomination.
Meanwhile, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice SardarTariq Masood and PBC representative Akhtar Hussain opposed her nomination.
Justice Ayesha is ranked fourth in the Lahore High Court in terms ofseniority.
The Pakistan Bar Council had declared a strike against the appointment ofJustice Ayesha Malik.
