Justice Ayesh Malik to become first woman Chief Justice of Pakistan

It is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) would elevate a woman for a Judge in Supreme Court. At present, she is at Lahore High Court and ranks four in the list of seniority. 

Justice Ayesha would fill the vacancy of CJP Mushir Alam, who would retire on August 17, 2021. 

Also Read: Explained: Afghanistan collapse accelerates with Taliban seizing provincial capital Kandahar

Who is Justice Ayesha Malik?

• She studied Law from the Pakistan Law College, Lahore and completed her Master’s degree from the Harvard Law School, London. She has also studied in schools of Paris and New York and later moved to London’s Francis Holland School to complete her A-Levels.
• She started her career in the year 1997 and assisted Khurddin G Ebrahim at his legal firm in Karachi till 2001. In 2012, she became Justice in the Lahore High Court.
• In 2019, she became the President of the Committee for Protection of Women Judges in Lahore. 

• Recently, she is a part of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), an initiative to provide equal rights to women in the country.
• In January 2021, she passed a judgment on the two-finger and hymen test on the survivors of sexual assault as illegal and against the Constitution of Pakistan. According to the women’s media site, SheThePeople, her judgment read that it is a humiliating practice used to cast suspicion on the victim, as opposed to focusing on the accused and the incident of sexual violence.