ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan may get the first female judge in the country’s history after Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed nominated Lahore High Court’s Justice Ayesha Malik as the likely replacement of Justice Mushir Alam who is scheduled to retire next week.
According to the local media, a judicial commission will convene on September 9 to discuss her possible elevation to the top court of the country.
The Lahore High Court judge went to the Harvard Law School before joining her country’s judiciary in March 2012.
Lahore High Court’s Justice Ayesha Malik. (Photo courtesy: Social Media)
Her nomination was welcomed by social media users who described her as Pakistan’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“History has just been made in Pakistan’s Supreme Court,” Marvi Sirmed, a prominent activist, said in a Twitter post. “In country’s 74-year history, SC appoints it’s first woman judge.”
History has just been made in Pakistan's Supreme Court. In country's 74-year history, SC appoints it's first woman judge. That too, a woman like Justc. #AyeshaMalik, who we truly hope becomes Pakistan's #RuthBaderGinsburg. Best of luck, My Lady! https://t.co/ozGikEDIeq
— Marvi Sirmed (@marvisirmed) August 12, 2021
Pakistan’s Women’s Parliamentary Caucus also expressed its best wishes for the judge.
#JusticeAyeshaMalik to become the first Pakistani woman to be elevated to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed has nominated her name. A judicial commission session has been summoned in this regard.
Our best wishes for Hon. Justice Ayesha Malik as she takes on the charge pic.twitter.com/n1FEGA4eNh— Women's Parliamentary Caucus Pakistan (@wpc_pak) August 12, 2021
According to the website of Samaa TV, Malik is “mother of three children [who] used to fight pro bono cases for NGOs working on poverty alleviation, microfinance, and skills training programs.”
It added that Pakistan was the only South Asian country which had not elevated a woman judge to the apex court since its independence.
