Undue influence: CJP vows to shield judges
Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi speaks at a conference at the Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad on July 25, 2025. SCREENGRAB
Reaffirming commitment to judicial independence, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi on Friday said every judge would be protected from undue influence and a mechanism for institutional response to such influences has been notified.
Speaking to the judicial officers and members of the bar at Boonithe headquarters of Upper Chitral district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P)he reiterated that every judicial officer will be fully supported in the discharge of his duties in accordance with law, said an official statement.
The CJP underscored that measures are underway to set in place systems for performance evaluation of judges based on Rule of Law indicators, standardized recruitment and training systems, formation of district judiciary policy forums, uniform service structures, and digital transformation of courts in collaboration with the Ministry of Information Technology.
International partnerships are also progressing, with MoUs being finalized with the Supreme People's Court of China and the Constitutional Court of Türkiye to enhance judicial cooperation.
Highlighting ongoing reforms, the CJP announced that over Rs3.3 billion have been allocated out of the relevant window of the Access to Justice Development Fund and grants from the federal government to upgrade court infrastructure and public facilities by August 2026.
He said after the completion of these locally customized projects, all districts and tehsils will have solar-powered courts, e-libraries, water filtration plants, women facilitation centers, and legal aid for unrepresented litigants, funded through the Access to Justice Development Fund.
These reforms, he said, are being implemented through the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC), comprising all chief justices of the high courts.
According to the statement, the CJP undertook a landmark visit to the farthest district of K-P province in a bid to reaffirm the judiciary's commitment to extending access to justice across Pakistan's most remote regions.