In a milestone moment, Pakistan moved a step closer to appoint the first woman judge of the Supreme Court after the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed approved the elevation of Lahore High Court Judge Ayesha Malik to the top court.
Her name will be now considered by a parliamentary committee which according to experts and media reports rarely goes against the recommendations of the JCP.
With that, Pakistan will get its first female SC judge in its history of 75 years of independence. To ensure her appointment, what should follow is an approval by the parliamentary committee, in which a majority of members of the ruling party vote for her. Her name will be now considered by a parliamentary committee which according to experts and media reports rarely goes against the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).
“An important & defining moment in our country as a brilliant lawyer & decorated judge has become Pakistan's first female SC judge,” a legislator of the ruling party and parliamentary secretary for law, Maleeka Bokhari tweeted. “To shattering glass ceilings,” she cheered for Malik.
According to the news agency Reuters’ sources, this landmark decision wasn’t all unanimous. The same nine-member commission had turned Malik down last year. And this time, she barely made it through with five people voting for, and four against her.
Many legal experts didn’t favour the decision because they felt Malik was not among the top three senior judges of the lower court from which she was nominated for elevation. “The major issue is not that there was ever a question mark on Justice Ayesha Malik's competence or the fact that she is a good judge,” Imaan Mazari-Hazir, an Islamabad-based lawyer and vocal rights activist, told Reuters.
Zahrah Vayani of the Women Lawyers Association, however, made a sharp point: “I know some bar associations were opposing the same on the basis of the seniority principle, but there have been over 40 judges elevated to the Supreme Court out of turn, and the appointment of the first female judge is a great step in the right direction.”