A special parliamentary committee has been formed to select the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), following the enactment of the 26th Constitutional Amendment. The National Assembly Secretariat has issued a notification announcing the committee’s formation.

Current CJP Qazi Faez Isa is required to submit the names of three senior judges by midnight on Tuesday, from whom the new CJP will be chosen.

Three senior justices are reportedly under consideration: Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Yahya Afridi. Their profiles are as follows:

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah:

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was born on November 28, 1962, in Peshawar. He received his early education at the prestigious Aitchison College in Lahore. After earning a law degree from Punjab University Law College in 1988, he began his legal practice in 1991. His career progressed steadily, leading to his appointment as an additional judge of the Lahore High Court in 2009. From 2016 to 2018, he served as the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court. He was subsequently appointed as a Supreme Court judge on February 7, 2018. During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Shah has presided over numerous significant cases. He authored the majority opinion in cases concerning reserved seats and penned a notable 27-page dissenting note in a case related to amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws. He has also made significant contributions to the development of arbitration forums and judicial reforms in Pakistan.

Justice Yahya Afridi:

Justice Yahya Afridi was born on January 23, 1965, in Dera Ghazi Khan. He received his early education at Aitchison College, Lahore, and later graduated from Government College, Lahore. He furthered his legal studies, earning an LLM from Jesus College, Cambridge University. He commenced his legal practice in 1990, eventually joining the Supreme Court bar in 2004. His judicial career began with his appointment as an additional judge of the Peshawar High Court in 2010, becoming a permanent judge in 2012. He rose to the position of Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court in 2016. Justice Afridi’s appointment to the Supreme Court followed in 2018. Since then, he has participated in larger benches hearing significant cases, including those related to reserved seats and the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto presidential reference. He has also written dissenting notes in several key judgments.

Justice Munib Akhtar:

Justice Munib Akhtar was born on December 14, 1963. He completed his graduation from Government College, Lahore, in 1983, and subsequently graduated from Princeton University in the United States in 1986. He obtained his law degree from Punjab University Law College in 1989 and started his legal practice in 1990, eventually practicing in the High Court from 1992 and the Supreme Court from 2009. His judicial career began with his appointment as an additional judge of the Sindh High Court in 2009, becoming a permanent judge in 2011. In 2018, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. His contributions to the Supreme Court include authoring the significant judgment interpreting Article 63-A of the Pakistani Constitution.