New era: Justice Anwar Zaheer sworn in as SC’s 24th chief justice

President Mamnoon Hussain administers the oath in Urdu

ISLAMABAD: The apex court’s senior-most judge, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, took oath on Thursday as the 24th chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.  Justice Jamali will remain in office for more than a year and retire on December 31, 2016.

President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath in a solemn ceremony, attended by the country’s top civil and military leadership including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

According to a statement issued by the President House, governors of Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), chief ministers of Balochistan and the G-B, prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, federal ministers, services chiefs, parliamentarians, diplomats, judges of the Supreme Court and its former chief justices and other high officials attended the ceremony.

Later, the newly appointed chief justice called on President Mamnoon, who congratulated Justice Jamali on his appointment and wished him well in discharge of his new responsibilities.

The entire oath-taking ceremony and the oath were conducted and administered in Urdu. It is the second time that a CJP has taken oath in the national language. Earlier, the outgoing chief justice Jawaad S Khawaja had taken oath in Urdu.

The Supreme Court’s three-judge bench, headed by the outgoing CJ Justice Khawaja, on Tuesday ordered the implementation of Urdu as the official language at all government departments.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th,  2015.