ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani parliamentary committee that deals with the appointment of judges endorsed the elevation of Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha A. Malik to the Supreme Court while maintaining that her appointment would not abolish the principle of seniority that is usually considered in such promotions, reported the local media on Wednesday.
Malik's appointment to the country's apex court was proposed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed in August last year, though there was some controversy over her possible appointment within the legal circles since she is not the most senior judge at the Lahore High Court.
Earlier this month, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan approved her elevation to the Supreme Court in a meeting that was chaired by the chief justice of Pakistan by a majority of five votes against four.
The parliamentary committee upheld the idea of appointing Malik to the apex court under the chairmanship of Senator Farooq Naek on Wednesday.
"According to Farooq Naek, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on January 7 approved the nomination of Justice Ayesha Malik for her appointment as the Supreme Court judge with a vote of five out of nine," Geo News reported. "He further said that the court is not abolishing the procedure to appoint judges based on their seniority, adding that Malik would be the first woman to become an SC judge and she would benefit the country."
Malik's appointment to the Supreme Court can make her the first female judge in the history of Pakistan to become part of the country's top court.
Currently, she ranks fourth in terms of seniority at the Lahore High Court.
She was recently supported by the Women in Law Pakistan initiative that argued that seniority was not a legal requirement for such appointments, adding that "at least 41 times judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court without them being most senior."
Malik has been nominated for the Supreme Court position which will fall vacant after the retirement of Justice Mushir Alam in August.
Parliamentary committee approves Justice Ayesha Malik's elevation to Supreme Court
https://arab.news/pgcfu
Parliamentary committee approves Justice Ayesha Malik's elevation to Supreme Court
- Malik's appointment to the country's apex court was originally proposed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed
- Her elevation can make her the first female judge in the country's history to serve Pakistan's top court
Activists renew pressure on German government over stranded Afghans in Pakistan
- Amnesty, Save the Children, Human Rights Watch, other groups urge government to bring roughly 1,800 Afghans to Germany before year end
- Afghans were accepted under refugee scheme but have been stuck in Pakistan since Chancellor Friedrich Merz froze the program
BERLIN: More than 250 human rights groups and other NGOs on Tuesday renewed pressure on the German government to take in hundreds of Afghans stranded in Pakistan who had been offered sanctuary by Berlin.
The organizations, including Amnesty International, Save the Children, Human Rights Watch and church groups, urged the government to bring the roughly 1,800 Afghans to Germany from Pakistan before the end of the year.
Those affected must be evacuated in the coming weeks to protect them from deportation back to Afghanistan and persecution by the Taliban, the groups said.
The Afghans were accepted under a refugee scheme set up by the previous German government but have been stuck in Pakistan since conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office in May and froze the program.
Around 350 people on the scheme have been able to come to Germany after winning legal challenges against the government in German courts.
According to the open letter sent to the government by the NGOs on Tuesday, most of those left in Afghanistan are women and children.
“Especially now, during the Christmas season, we remember humanity and compassion,” the letter says.
“Therefore, we appeal to you: Finally bring those to whom we have promised protection to safety.”
Those affected include those who served with German armed forces in Afghanistan, as well as journalists, human rights activists and members of the LGBT+ community.
In recent weeks the government has offered those still waiting in Pakistan money in order to forgo any right to settle in Germany.
However, the interior ministry said on November 18 that only 62 people had taken up the offer.
Pakistan has been cracking down on Afghans with no residence permits since 2023, with officials insisting the country cannot be a “transit camp” for those waiting to resettle in the West.
Germany says it has received assurances from the Pakistani government that the Afghans on the scheme will not be deported before the end of the year, but that this deadline cannot be extended.
Merz made a harsher immigration and asylum policy one of the flagship commitments of his campaign in February’s general election.
That vote saw the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieve its best ever result of just over 20 percent and in some recent polls it has opened up a narrow lead over Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance.
