The Special Parliamentary Committee picked Supreme Court judge Justice Yahya Afridi as the next chief justice of Pakistan. If President Asif Ali Zardari approves his name, Justice Afridi will serve as the CJP for the next three years.

Here is a glimpse into his career.

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.

Justice Afridi became the first judge from the erstwhile federally administered tribal area to assume the office of the PHC chief justice when he took oath on December 30 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.

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It merits here to mention that Justice Afridi’s current age is 59. If he is appointed the CJP, then he would serve till the age of 62 and the remaining three years of his professional life would be considered as retirement.

“65 is the cut-off retirement age. If you become CJP before retirement age, then your remaining time will be considered as retirement,” Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters after the cabinet approved the 26th Constitutional Amendment on October 20.