Justice Ayesha Malik takes oath as ‘first woman judge’ of Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD: Justice Ayesha Malik makes history as she took oath as the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed administered the oath to her at a ceremony in Islamabad.

Justice Ayesha studied in Pakistan and abroad, including Harvard Law School in the United States. She was an associate of former chief election commissioner and eminent jurist Justice Fakhruddin Ibrahim, and worked with him as an assistant for about four years, from 1997 to 2001.

The judge, 55, has also been a part of the law firm of which Justice Qazi Faez Isa is a founder.

Justice Ayesha is an expert in constitutional, banking, tax and human rights issues.

According to the LHC website, she has taught banking and mercantile law in different universities of Pakistan. She has been called upon to specialise in cases of child custody, divorce, women’s rights and women’s constitutional protection in Pakistan, England and Australia.

The judge has collaborated with various NGOs on poverty alleviation, microfinance and skills training programmes. She has also been Pakistan’s reporter for the Oxford Reports for International Law in Domestic Courts, published by Oxford University Press.

Justice Ayesha’s decision on the method of medical examination of female victims of sexual violence is very prominent. The decision of the Sharif family to stop the relocation of sugar mills to the Rahim Yar Khan area of South Punjab is also one of her notable decisions.

The judge is married to Humayun Ehsan, a principal and lawyer of a private law college and has three children.

A fiercely opposed judge

Earlier this month, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) in its meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed with a majority of votes had recommended the appointment of Justice Ayesha as a judge of the Supreme Court.

Following the JCP’s recommendation, the matter of her appointment was later placed before the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Judges for final approval.

Chief Justice Gulzar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice (retd) Sarmad Jalal Usmani, Law Minister Farogh Nasim and attorney general of Pakistan had supported her appointment.

Justice Ayesha’s name was placed before the commission for the second time today after her name was suggested by CJP Gulzar in August last year.

Earlier in September 2021, JCP had put her nomination on hold as the vote during the meeting had ended in a ‘tie’.

Justice Ayesha had received four votes in favour of her appointment while four were cast against her.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa had not participated in the JCP meeting and was absent once again when the body met on Thursday.

Read more: Like the pandemic, PM Imran Khan vows to overcome inflation