CJP Gulzar Ahmed administers oath to Justice Ayesha A. Malik as SC Judge
ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (SABAH): Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Chief Justice of Pakistan administered the oath of office to Ms. Ayesha A. Malik, Justice of Lahore High Court as Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday at Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad, in a simple and dignified ceremony.
Judges of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Attorney General for Pakistan, senior lawyers, Law Officers and officers of Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan attended the ceremony.
Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan conducted the proceedings of oath taking ceremony. Officers and staff of the Supreme Court of Pakistan were also present on the occasion.
With Justice Ayesha taking the office as an SC judge, the apex court has attained the strength of 17 judges of whom eight belong to Punjab alone.
Besides Justice Ayesha, other judges from Punjab include Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Sayyed Mazahir Ali Naqvi.
Interestingly, the four judges from Lahore who will now have the opportunity to become the CJP in future are Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A. Malik.
Justice Ayesha A. Malik born on 3rd June, 1966, she completed her basic education from Schools in Paris and New York and did her Senior Cambridge from the Karachi Grammar School, Karachi. She then did her A’ Level from Francis Holland School for Girls in London. She completed her B.Com from the Government College of Commerce & Economics, Karachi and studied law at Pakistan College of Law, Lahore. She went on to do her LL.M from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. where she was named a London H. Gammon Fellow 1998-1999 for outstanding merit.
During 1997-2001, she worked with Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim & Co., Karachi, where she assisted Mr. Fakhurddin G. Ebrahim.
From 2001 to the date of her elevation, she worked with Rizvi, Isa, Afridi & Angell known as RIAA, initially as a Senior Associate and from 2004 as a Partner and was in Charge of the Firm’s Lahore Office. In this capacity, she spearheaded the Corporate & Litigation Department of the Firm’s Lahore Office.
She has taught law as a Lecturer of Banking Law, University of Punjab, Department of Masters of Business and Information Technology. She was also a lecturer of Mercantile Law, College of Accounting & Management Sciences, Karachi and spent many years voluntarily teaching English Language and Development in Communication Skills at Herman Meiner School in Lahore, being an SOS project.
She has appeared in the High Courts, District Courts, Banking Court, Special Tribunals and Arbitration Tribunals. She was called upon as expert witness in family law cases conducted in England and Australia involving issues of child custody, divorce, women’s rights and constitutional protection for women in Pakistan.
She has been counsel, pro bono for NGOs involved in poverty alleviation programs, micro finance programs and skills training programs.
Her publications include Why ‘Trade’ in Financial Services: An assessment of the Agreement on Trade in Financial Services under the GATS- The Journal of World Investment, Vol 1 No.2, December 2000. 12th Edition of the Global Report 2004 on the Independence of the Judiciary-Pakistan Chapter. Pakistan Secular Laws:
The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History published by Oxford University Press 2009, Volume 4
She also compiled the Supreme Court of Pakistan 1956-2006 Selected Cases published by the Pakistan College of Law, published at the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
She has regularly contributed to the Merger Control, Getting The Deal Through, being an International Journal of Competition policy and Regulation Global Competition Review.
She has been a Reporter for Pakistan for the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts, a publication of the Oxford University Press. She is happily married and has three children.
Justice Ayesha Malik will become the first woman chief justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Yahya Khan Afridi on 24th January 2030. She will retire as chief justice of Pakistan on 3rd June 2031. She will serve as CJP for over 16 months.