Justice Yahya Afridi was sworn in as the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Saturday during a ceremony held at the President House in Islamabad. The oath of office was administered by President Asif Ali Zardari, and Justice Afridi will serve in this role for three years, until October 26, 2027.
His appointment was made by a Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) established under the recently enacted 26th Amendment. Justice Afridi succeeds Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who received a farewell tribute at a full court reference on Friday, where senior lawyers reflected on his tenure.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the chiefs of the three armed services, including Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, as well as other Supreme Court judges. Senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was absent from both the farewell and the swearing-in events due to performing Umrah with his family. However, many other judges were present, including Justices Munib Akhtar, Ayesha Malik, and Athar Minallah, who had missed the previous day’s event.
Also in attendance were Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan from Punjab, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti.
Early Life and Career
Born on January 23, 1965, in Dera Ismail Khan, Justice Afridi hails from the Adam Khel clan of the Afridi tribe and resides in Babari Banda village, Kohat. He comes from a family dedicated to public service.
Justice Afridi completed his education at Aitchison College and Government College, Lahore, before obtaining an MA in economics from Punjab University. He later earned a Commonwealth Scholarship, allowing him to pursue an LLM from Jesus College, University of Cambridge. Additionally, he participated in a Young Commonwealth Lawyers scholarship program at the Institute of Legal Studies in London.
After interning at Fox & Gibbons, Solicitors in London, he returned to Pakistan and joined Orr, Dignam & Co. in Karachi as an associate. He later started his private practice in Peshawar and lectured at Khyber Law College, teaching international law, labor law, and administrative law.
Justice Afridi was enrolled as a high court advocate in 1990 and became a Supreme Court lawyer in 2004. He served as an assistant advocate general for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and as federal counsel for the federal government during his legal practice.
He was appointed as an additional judge of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in 2010 and confirmed as a judge on March 15, 2012. Notably, he became the first judge from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to serve as chief justice of the PHC when he took the oath on December 30, 2016, before being elevated to the Supreme Court on June 28, 2018.
