Justice Ayesha Malik took oath on Monday as Pakistan's first female Supreme Court judge.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed administered the oath to Justice Ayesha in a ceremony inside the SC building. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who has been nominated as the next top judge of Pakistan, and other apex court judges, also attended the ceremony.

Last week, a notice issued by the Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice stated, “President is pleased to appoint Justice Ayesha A Malik, a judge of Lahore High Court as the judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.”

The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on January 6, 2022 with the majority of five to four recommended the elevation of Justice Ayesha to the apex court, while the Parliamentary Committee (PC) on Judges Appointment had also approved her appointment.

Justice Ayesha became the judge of the LHC in March 2012 and was number four on the high court judges’ seniority list. She will work as a Supreme Court judge until June 2031. She will also become Chief Justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Yahya Afridi in January 2030.

Before her appointment as a judge of the LHC, she taught law as a lecturer of Banking Law at the University of Punjab and a lecturer of Mercantile Law at the College of Accounting & Management Sciences in Karachi. She holds a Master in Laws (LLM) from Harvard Law School, USA.

This report was first published in Business Recorder on Jan 24, 2022.