PESHAWAR
The lawyers of Khyber Pakthunkhwa and members of districts bar associations here Wednesday welcomed the appointment of new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Yahya Afridi.
They expressed the hope that the new CJP would utalize his long professional and administrative experience for supremacy of rule of law and upholding of constitution of Pakistan.
Astagafarullah Khan advocate, former General Secretary, Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) said that Justice Yahya Afridi being highly qualified and competant judge, has delivered historic judgments both as Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court and judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan during his long judicial career.
He said that appointment of the new CJP was made strictly under the procedure laid down in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
The senior lawyer said that Justice Yahya Afridi has a great commond on all forms of laws and under his dynamic leadership, the cases of litigants would be addressed swiftly in the Apex Court.
It merit to mention that the newly appointed CJP Justice Afridi was born in Dera Ismail Khan on 23rd January 1965. He belongs to the Adam Khel section of the Afridi tribe located in district Kohat.
New CJP Yahya Afridi had received his early education at Aitchison College, Lahore and Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from Government College Lahore. Later, he obtained his Masters of Arts degree in Economics from Punjab University, Lahore.
After being awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, Justice Afridi completed his LLM from Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. He was subsequently selected for a scholarship program for Young Commonwealth Lawyers at the Institute of Legal Studies in London.
He started his private practice in Peshawar and lectured at Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar where he taught International Law, Labour Law and Administrative Law.
He was enrolled as an advocate of the High Court in 1990 and as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2004. He served as an Assistant Advocate General for the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and as a Federal Counsel for the Government of Pakistan while in practice.
Afridi was elevated to the Bench of the Peshawar High Court as Additional Judge in 2010 and was confirmed as a Judge of the Peshawar High Court on 15th March 2012.
Justice Afridi became the first judge from the Federally Administered Tribal Area to assume the office of the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court when he took oath on 30th December 2016. He served in that office until his elevation as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 28th June 2018.
Senior lawyer and member of the district bar Peshawar, Noman Bukhari advocate has welcomed the appointment of new CJP Justice Yahya Afridi for three years by the President of Pakistan on the advice of Prime Minister and recommendations of 12 members Special Committee of the Parliament.
Declaring his appointment as great honour for KP, he said the appointment of new CJP showed the collective wisdom of the Parliament, hoping that the long pending cases in Supreme Court would be disposed of with speed.
Malik Ashfaq advocate, senior member of district bar Nowshera also welcomed new CJP appointment under a constitutional procedure, expressing optimism that new CJP Yahya Afridi would play an important role in setting up of constitutional benches in Supreme Court of Pakistan.
He said that cases backlog has increased in SC and under the new CJP this issue would be addressed on priority basis.
The senior lawyers said that people of all walks of life, lawyers and members of the districts bars across Pakistan have welcomed appointment of CJP Yahya Afridi and praised the collective wisdom of the Parliament in this key appointment for the country’s highest court.
