The strength of the Supreme Court rose to 25 as seven newly appointed judges were sworn in on Friday.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi administered the oath to the newly appointed judges, namely Justice Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Salah Uddin Panhwar, Justice Shakeel Ahmed, Justice Aamir Farooq, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Islamabad High Court (IHC) Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, the Attorney General, lawyers, law officers, and court staff. Among the newly appointed Supreme Court judges, all have been given permanent positions except Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb, who has been appointed for a one-year term.
With the addition of these seven judges, the total number of Supreme Court judges has reached 25, including two ad-hoc judges. As per the updated seniority list on the Supreme Court's website, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah is the most senior judge after Chief Justice Yahya Afridi.
The other SC judges follow as Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin Uddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Ather Minallah, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Musarrat Hilali, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shehzad Malik, Justice Aqeel Abbasi, Jusitce Shahid Bilal Hasan, Justice Hashim Kakar, Justice Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Salah Uddin Panhwar, Justice Shakeel Ahmed, Justice Aamir Farooq, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb, Justice Sardar Tariq and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhail.
After the swearing-in ceremony, a nine-member larger bench, including the newly appointed judges, heard 10 cases. The larger bench rejected four pleas of bails cancellation.
In an informal talk with journalists after the event, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said he is not afraid of any reference, saying he has not done anything wrong. To a question about his performance, he said the record speaks for itself, adding the SC website contains the record of his reported judgments.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ