Newly-appointed Supreme Court judges sworn in

The ceremony, presided by Chief Justice Yahiya Afridi, took place in Islamabad.

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Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Friday administered the oath of office to six newly appointed judges of the Supreme Court.

The new judges include Hashim Khan Kakar, ex-chief justice of the Balochistan High Court (BHC); Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, former chief justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC); Ishtiaq Ibrahim, former chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and Aamer Farooq, ex- chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

SHC Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and PHC Justice Shakeel Ahmed also took the oath as judges of the Supreme Court.

In addition, CJP Yahya Afridi administered the oath to Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb as an acting judge of the apex court.

The ceremony was attended by Supreme Court judges, the Attorney General, senior lawyers, journalists, judicial staff, as well as office-bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council.

These judges were nominated on Monday in a Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting which was boycotted by two senior SC judges as well as two members from the opposition party.

The 13-member JCP, headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, convened to consider the nominations for Supreme Court appointments. According to a statement on the Supreme Court's website, the nominations were approved by a majority vote.

The meeting was held despite demands from some judges and a section of the legal fraternity to delay proceedings until appeals against the 26th Constitutional Amendment were decided and the issue of the new IHC seniority list was resolved.

Last week, four Supreme Court judges, Senior Puisne Judge Mansoor Ali Shah, and Munib Akhtar, Athar Minallah and Ayesha Malik addressed a letter to Chief Justice Afridi, asking him to delay the appointment of new judges till the decision on the appeals regarding the 26th Amendment.

Later, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Ali Zafar, who is a JCP member, also requested Chief Justice Afridi to delay the appointment of new judges to the apex court until the issue of the seniority of the IHC judges was decided.

At the outset of JCP meeting on Monday, according to the sources, Justice Shah, while referring to the judges letter, demanded postponement of the meeting. His contention was supported by Justice Akhtar, as well as Senator Ali Zafar and National Assembly member Barrister Gohar Ali Khan.

Amid the meeting, the lawyers and litigants faced difficulties as some section of the legal fraternity had called protest against the meeting and new appointments to the apex court. Because of the protest, several roads were closed in the area.