President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Supreme Court judge Justice Yahya Afridi as the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).
Justice Yahya Afridi has been appointed for a fixed three-year term starting on October 26, according to a statement from the Aiwan-e-Sadr released early Wednesday.
He will be 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan. The appointment was made by the President under Articles 175A (3), 177 and 179 of the Constitution. Justice Yahya Afridi is set to take the oath of office on October 26, the statement said.
According to the brief profile of Justice Yahya Afridi, he (Justice Yahya Afridi) was born in Dera Ismail Khan on 23rd January 1965.
He belongs to the Adam Khel section of the Afridi tribe located in the Kohat Frontier Region and is a resident of Village Babari Banda, District Kohat. He belongs to a family steeped in a tradition of public service.
Justice Yahya Afridi received his early education at Aitchison College, Lahore. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Government College Lahore and later obtained his Masters of Arts degree in Economics from Punjab University, Lahore.
After being awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, Justice Yahya 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.
Justice Yahya 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 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 Yahya 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.
