Soon after assuming his new office on Saturday Morning, Chief Justice Yahya Afridi immediately got to work overturning one of the more controversial decisions of his predecessors (a growing tradition) and reconstituted the three-judge bench-fixing committee under the Practice and Procedure Committee and re-inducted Justice Munib Akhtar.
The committee will now comprise CJP Afridi, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Akhtar.
Earlier, in the last days of ex-CJP Qazi Faez Isa's tenure, a controversy emerged after the government promulgated an ordinance to amend the Practice and Procedure Act, enabling the chief justice to nominate the third committee member of his choice. Soon after the ordinance was promulgated, former CJP Isa immediately acted on it to alter the composition of the bench-fixing committee and replaced Justice Akhtar with Justice Aminuddin Khan. CJP Afridi, who was then the third senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, had declined ex-CJP Isa's offer to join the bench fixing committee.
However, the committee became dysfunctional after Justice Shah raised concerns over the amendment and ex-CJP Isa's decision to replace Justice Akhtar and demanded a full court meeting. Justice Shah also refused to attend meetings of the bench fixing committee.
In a separate move, CJP Afridi has also summoned a meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for November 8.
A full court meeting has also been summoned for October 28. Sources claimed the meeting would be convened upon Justice Shah's return from his pilgrimage abroad.
CJP Afridi has also summoned a meeting of Administrative Judges of Anti-Terrorism Courts along with progress reports on pending cases on November 7, 2024, in the Supreme Court.
Sources say CJP Afridi has also ordered to make arrangements for live-streaming of all cases being heard in the top court, and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar of the Supreme Court has been handed this task. Moreover, the service of live streaming cases will be subject to litigants' consent. Hearing of cases involving female litigants shall also be kept confidential.
CJP Yahya Afridi takes oath
Justice Yahya Afridi on Saturday took oath as the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). Despite being a Saturday, he proceeded to have a relatively productive day as the country's top judge.
An oath-taking ceremony was held at the Presidency in Islamabad, where President Asif Ali Zardari administered him the oath of office.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and chiefs of the three military services, including Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, attended the oath-taking ceremony, along with other judges of the Supreme Court (SC).
Senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah could not attend the event as he had travelled abroad to perform Umrah. Most of the other SC judges, including Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Shahid Waheed, were present at the oath-taking ceremony. Justices Munib Akhtar, Ayesha Malik and Athar Minallah, who did not attend the full court reference, held in honour of the outgoing CJP (retired) Qazi Faez Isa, were also present.
Former CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also attended the ceremony.
Chief ministers, governors of the provinces, federal ministers and other notables were also in attendance.
Justice Afridi was notified as the chief justice after the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment earlier in the week, which altered the procedure for appointing the chief justice and fixed the top judge's tenure for three years. Chief Justice Afridi, thus, will remain in office until October 26, 2027.
Who is Chief Justice Afridi
Chief Justice Yahya Afridi hails from the Adam Khel section of the vast Afridi tribe which is primarily located in the Kohat Frontier Region.
He was born in Dera Ismail Khan on January 23, 1965 - just months before Pakistan and India fought a war. He was a resident of the Babari Banda Village in Kohat. He belongs to a family steeped in a tradition of public service.
He completed his early education at Aitchison College in Lahore. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Government College Lahore. Later, he obtained his Master of Arts degree in Economics from the Punjab University in Lahore.
After being awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, Chief Justice Afridi completed his LLM from Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. He was subsequently selected for a scholarship programme for Young Commonwealth Lawyers at the Institute of Legal Studies in London.
He interned at the solicitors Fox and Gibbons in London before returning to Pakistan, where he joined Orr, Dignam & Co. in Karachi as an associate. He went on to start his private practice in Peshawar and lectured at the Khyber Law College in the University of Peshawar, where he taught International Law, Labour Law and Administrative Law.
CJP Afridi 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.
He was elevated to the Peshawar High Court as an additional judge in 2010 and was confirmed as a judge of the Peshawar High Court on March 15, 2012.
CJP Afridi became the first judge from the then Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to assume the office of the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court when he took oath on December 30, 2016. He served in that office until his elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court on June 28, 2018.
Like his predecessor, CJP Afridi is known for favouring the supremacy of the parliament and walking the tightrope of law.
CJP Afridi was a part of several benches that heard and decided on key and high-profile cases.
In some cases, he also dissented from the majority's judgments. However, his dissenting views are also considered important because of his sharp legal acumen.
He was part of the bench that heard Justice (retired) Qazi Faez Isa's constitutional petition wherein he challenged the Presidential Reference against him in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
CJP Afridi allowed all the petitions and played a role in quashing the reference against ex-CJP Isa. However, in the same breath, CJP Afridi had rejected the latter's petition because a judge could not seek such a legal remedy.
Like his predecessor, CJP Afridi also kept his distance from the popular view, especially in cases relating to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
PTI announced a sit-in at D-Chowk in May 2023. The government closed the roads leading to the red zone with containers and other blockades to prevent it. Islamabad High Court and Bar Association of Pakistan's President Shoaib Shaheen moved the Supreme Court, requesting it to issue directions to open the roads.
The top court subsequently instructed the government to remove the blockages and allocate an alternate location to enable PTI to record their protest.
The case was not disposed of.
However, Imran Khan violated the court orders and reached D-Chowk where protestors damaged public infrastructure.
Following this development, Justice Afridi issued his dissenting note, which noted that Imran Khan, violating the court's May 25 orders, directed his workers to reach D-Chowk. CJP Afridi further disagreed with the majority's view that there was insufficient material to initiate a contempt case against Imran Khan. CJP Afridi had opined that Imran Khan had violated court orders, and there was sufficient material to prove this, and he recommended initiating contempt proceedings.
In February 2023, in the case regarding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, CJP Afridi in his note held that the suo moto case and clubbed petitions are not maintainable as the matter was pending before respective high courts, citing precedents wherein the top court itself held that it cannot hear a matter which is already pending before the high court. He said the top court should not interfere at this stage and instead adopted principles of restraint.
CJP Afridi further held that the matter relating to provincial elections in Punjab and KP had become peculiarly charged with unflinching political stances. He held that the SC should show judicial restraint regarding the case of the provincial elections.
CJP Yahya was also part of the bench which heard a case regarding the trial of civilians accused of participating in the May 9 riots in military courts. On the trial of civilians by military courts, CJP Afridi held that military courts cannot try civilians accused of offences in relation to May 9. However, he did not assent to the majority judgment, which struck down the law that permitted the court martial of civilians.
CJP Afridi was among the ten judges who endorsed the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act. He, however, dissented on a few points in the majority judgement. CJP Afridi was also part of the bench that heard the matter of the letter written by six judges of the Islamabad High Court accusing intelligence agencies of interference in judicial matters. However, he recused to hear the case and issued a note in the first hearing of it. In his note, he stated that the high courts, under the Constitution, were independent and that the jurisdiction of Article 184(3) should not be exercised on high courts. He further noted that adjudication under Article 184(3) could hurt the independence of high courts, adding that the Supreme Judicial Council should consider the matter, and hearing it in open court could lead to an adverse spectacle.
CJP Afridi was also part of a 13-member larger bench which heard the case of the reserved seats. In the same case, he again dissented and stated that the Sunni Ittehad Council was not eligible for reserved seats; rather, those candidates who submitted their declaration and oath were to be treated as PTI candidates. He further held that definitive directions could not be issued to the Election Commission of Pakistan and referred the matter to the ECP to decide it once again after providing a hearing to the parties concerned.
Reaction of senior lawyers
Senior lawyer and Former Additional Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Khokhar, while talking to The Friday Times said that CJP Afridi is not known for pliancy.
"More often than not, he finds himself unable to agree with the views of either side, neither the majority nor the minority," Advocate Khokhar explained.
He further said that CJP Afridi is quite the opposite of his predecessor, ex-CJP Qazi Faez Isa.
"There will be no malignant impulses, no vindictiveness, no collaboration with the extraneous forces, no attempt to undermine the rule of law, democracy or the Constitution," he predicted.
"Ironically, those who were instrumental in Justice Afridi’s appointment have unwittingly set the stage for a little better, fairer and purer justice system," he added.
"They will be bitterly disappointed at not seeing a repetition of the Qazi era," he concluded.