Justice Yahya Afridi Takes Helm as Pakistan’s 30th Chief Justice

President Asif Ali Zardari has nominated Justice Yahya Afridi as the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan for a fixed term of three years as recommended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The notification was made through a statement issued by the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday stating that the appointment had been made in terms of Conventional Articles 175A(3), 177 and 179. Justice Afridi got appointed with over three decades of experience in the judicial system of Pakistan and is set to assume his office on October 26.

Justice Afridi was born in 1965, in Dera Ismail Khan and his ascension to the Supreme Court of Pakistan is a perfect combination of merit and hard work. An old Aitchisonian, he completed his intermediate at the Government College Lahore, graduation and post graduation at Punjab University, Lahore and LLM on the Commonwealth Scholarship in Cambridge University England. After that for a while he started practicing law in Peshawar while also teaching at Khyber Law College to become an authority in legal academia.

Afridi’s judicial career was on an upward spiral when after a few years of practice as an advocate in High Court and Supreme Court. He was appointed an Additional Judge of the Peshawar High Court in 2010 and made the first judge from FATA to become the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court in 2016 and then joined the Supreme Court in 2018.

Legacy of Public Service

The appointment of Justice afridi has further importance because he belongs to the Adam Khel section of the Afridi tribe of Kohat Frontier Region. The most important positions held as part of his professional career are Assistant Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Counsel in the Government of Pakistan, which show that the subject has a clear vision of provincial and federal legislation.

This has made him versatile in his experience, from a teacher and researcher to the chief justice of the land, making him ready for Pakistan’s judiciary. His nearly three-year term as the 30 th Chief Justice will offer continuity as well as changes to the Supreme Court as he will rely on his vast experiences in international law labor law and administrative law.