President appoints Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim as Peshawar High Court's acting CJ

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has approved the appointment of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim as the acting chief justice (CJ) of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), an official statement said on Friday.

A notification was issued regarding Justice Ibrahim’s appointment as the acting CJ of PHC, stating that the tenure of the senior-most judge will be effective from the day of swearing-in.

The senior judge would perform duties as an acting CJ before being elevated to the permanent PHC chief justice post-approval of the judicial and the parliamentary committees, it concluded.

In another development, the Ministry of Law and Justice notified making six additional judges of the Sindh High Court (SHC) permanent following the approval of President Zardari.

The judges include Justice Amjad Ali Bohio, Justice Sana Akram Minhas, Justice Jawad Akbar Sarwana, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, Justice Abdur Rehman, and Justice Arbab Ali Hakro.

The Judicial Commission had recommended to make the six judges permanent, which was approved by the parliamentary committee.

Last month, former president Dr Arif Alvi approved the appointment of three judges, including Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, and Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed Khan, of the superior judiciary.

Then Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Afghan was elevated to the Supreme Court following the ex-president’s order. Later, Justice Afghan took oath as the top court’s judge on March 11 which was administered by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.

Subsequently, senior-most judge Justice Kakar was appointed as the acting chief justice of the BHC.

Additionally, Justice Khan was also sworn in as the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) chief justice following the president’s approval.