President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to Justice Yahya Afridi on Saturday, formally appointing him as Pakistan’s 30th Chief Justice. Afridi takes over from Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who retired on October 25. Justice Afridi will serve a three-year term as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).
First CJP Appointed Under New Constitutional Amendment
Justice Afridi is the first Chief Justice appointed under Articles 175A(3), 177, and 179 of the Constitution following the 26th Constitutional Amendment. The prestigious oath-taking ceremony took place at Aiwan-e-Sadr and was attended by prominent leaders, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, and Supreme Court judges such as Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Ayesha Malik.
Attendees at the Ceremony
The event saw attendance from high-ranking officials, including former CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, and several members of parliament.
Profile of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi
Born on January 23, 1965, in Dera Ismail Khan, Justice Afridi hails from the Afridi tribe of Kohat. He has a rich background in public service and began his education at Aitchison College, Lahore. Afridi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Government College Lahore and a Master’s degree in Economics from Punjab University.
Awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, Justice Afridi completed his LLM at the University of Cambridge and participated in the Young Commonwealth Lawyers program in London. He started his legal career in Peshawar, where he also lectured at Khyber Law College, specializing in International Law, Labor Law, and Administrative Law.
Legal Career and Judicial Appointments
Justice Afridi was admitted as a High Court advocate in 1990 and as a Supreme Court advocate in 2004. He served as Assistant Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Counsel for Pakistan. In 2010, he was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Peshawar High Court and was confirmed as a Judge in 2012.
In 2016, he became the first judge from the Federally Administered Tribal Area to assume the role of Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court. Justice Afridi served in this role until his elevation to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in June 2018.
