Justice Yahya Afridi — a brief profile

Justice Yahya Afridi, third on the seniority list, has been nominated by the newly constituted Special Parliamentary Committee as the next chief justice of Pakistan.

The committee, comprising members from the opposition and treasury benches, was formed to nominate the next chief justice from among the three most senior Supreme Court judges under the recently enacted 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The 12-member committee made decision with two-thirds majority with 4 PTI-backed SIC lawmakers boycotting the appointment process under the new law in line with the opposition party's political committee decision.

It may be pointed out that the process for appointment of the new chief justice is required to be completed in the next three days as incumbent CJP Isa is going to retire on October 25.

Profile

Justice 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.

He 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 Afridi completed his LL.M. 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.

He 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.

Afridi 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 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.