Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court is all set to have first woman judge for the first time in the country’s history.
Earlier, women judges have been appointed to the high courts of the country but none of them was elevated to the apex court.
She studied law at the Pakistan College of Law in Lahore and went on to do her LLB from the Harvard Law School Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where she was named a London H Gammon fellow 1998-1999.
From 2001 to the date of her elevation as a high court judge, she worked with the law firm of Rizvi, Isa, Afridi and Angell, first as a senior associate and then a partner in charge of the firm’s Lahore office.
Justice Ayesha Malik has appeared as a pro-bono counsel for several NGOs working on poverty alleviation, micro finance and skills-training programmes.
She also authored a number of publications and has been teaching banking law and mercantile law at the College of Accounting and Management Sciences Karachi and the University of the Punjab, Lahore.
This is for the first time that the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has approved the nomination of the first woman judge, Justice Ayesha Malik, to join the Supreme Court as its judge.
Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Ayesha A. Malik’s nomination — she is 4th in the seniority list of the LHC — was approved by a majority of 5 to 4 during a JCP session on Tuesday.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, senior puisne judge Justice Umar Ata Bandial, former judge Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Law Minister Barrister Farogh Naseem and Attorney General (AG) Khalid Jawed Khan supported Justice Malik’s candidature.
The dissenting votes were Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative Akhtar Hussain.
Parliamentary nod
Now her nomination would be formally approved by an 8-member bipartisan parliamentary committee, a mere formality.
After the parliamentary nod, she would be elevated to the Supreme Court.
According to the country’s law, since a judge of the Supreme Court is to hold office until 65 years and in the light of that Justice Ayesha Malik, 55, will remain judge of the Supreme Court until March 2031.
She may even have a chance to become the first woman chief justice of Pakistan.
‘Lawyers give strike call’
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) had opposed elevation of a ‘junior’ judge to the apex court of the country and gave a strike call. This is contrary to the principal of seniority and would open a Pandora’s Box in future, the lawyers community had held.
However, despite the strike call issued by the PBC and opposition from the lawyers community, social media is abuzz with welcome tweets and common Pakistanis as well as women representative organisation termed it an historic decision.
A netizen Alizeh Meer posted Justice Ayesha Malik portrait and ‘announced’ here is the first woman judge of Pakistan.
Women rights activist Nighat Dad said though one woman judge in the Supreme Court “is too few but a good start.”
Even foreign missions are seeing this move quite positive for Pakistan’s image in the world.
Ambassador of the Netherlands, Wouter Plomp also posted her picture saying, “Women in leadership help position help achieve gender equality.”
