Justice Yahya Afridi has officially become the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) today (Saturday).
Justice Afridi has succeeded former CJP Isa, who retired yesterday (Friday) after serving for a year.
Justice Yahya is the first to be appointed under Articles 175A(3), 177, and 179 of the Constitution after 26th Constitutional Amendment.
Senior judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, who would have become the CJP had the 26th Amendment not been in place, was unable to attend yesterday’s and today’s events as he is in Saudi for Umrah with his family.
How long will Justice Yahya Afridi serve as CJP?
The new CJP will serve the post for a fixed three-year term.
The development took place after 26th Amendment was passed.
Pakistan’s longest-serving chief justice was Mohammad Haleem. He served as CJP from 1981 to 1989.
Who is he?
Born in 1965, Justice Afridi attended Aitchison College and Government College, Lahore for early studies. He later obtained an MA in economics from Punjab University.
After being awarded a scholarship, Justice Afridi completed his LLM from Jesus College at the University of Cambridge.
Justice Afridi was elevated to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) as an additional judge in 2010, and confirmed as a PHC judge on March 15th, 2012.
He took oath as the youngest chief justice of the Peshawar High Court in December 2016, and then was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2018.
