PESHAWAR
Justice Musarrat Hilali on Saturday took oath as interim chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, becoming the first woman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to reach the position.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali administered the oath to Ms Hilali at a ceremony held at the PHC. Several judges, Attorney General for Pakistan Usman Mansoor Awan and a larger number of lawyers were present on the occasion.
Earlier, President Dr Arif Alvi has approved the appointment of Justice Musarrat Hilali as the chief justice. She has replaced outgoing chief justice Qaiser Rasheed.
Justice Hilali was elevated to the post after the retirement of Chief Justice Qaiser Rasheed. She is the second female who has become chief justice of a high court after Justice Tahira Safdar became chief justice of Balochistan High Court.
Justice Hilali is among the senior-most judges of PHC. Born in Peshawar on August 8, 1961, she received Law Degree from Khyber Law College, Peshawar University, and enrolled as an Advocate of District Courts in 1983 and as an Advocate of the High Court in 1988. She became an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006.
Being a woman, she had several achievements in her career including being the first woman elected office-bearer on the post of secretary at the bar from 1988-1989, vice president at the bar (twice) from 1992 to 1994, General Secretary 1997-1998, first woman twice elected as an executive member of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.
She was also the first woman Additional Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 2001 to March 2004 and was later appointed as the first woman chairperson Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environment Protection Tribunal.
She also served as the first woman Ombudsman for the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace. She was elevated to the Bench as Additional Judge on March 26, 2013, and confirmed as a permanent judge of the Peshawar High Court on March 13, 2014.
