Islamabad
Pakistan is likely to get its first woman judge in the Supreme Court next month.
Ayesha Malik has been nominated by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) led by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed. The decision is expected to be finalized on Sept 9.
The JCP had to pick her out of turn as she stood at the number four position in the seniority list to make judiciary inclusive.
Pakistan could have had its first woman Chief Justice in Justice Fakhrunissa Khokar, whose seniority was bypassed in 2002 while appointing a Supreme Court Judge.
Justice Ayesha Malik had been appearing as pro bono counsel for NGOs working in poverty alleviation, microfinance programmes and skills training programmes, newspaper Dawn reported.
Justice Ayesha Malik completed her basic education from schools in Paris and New York and did her senior Cambridge from Karachi Grammar School. She did her A-Levels from Francis Holland School for Girls in London. She studied law at the Pakistan College of Law, Lahore. She went on to do her LLB from the Harvard Law School Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, where she was named a London H. Gammon Fellow 1998-1999 for her outstanding merit.
Dawn quoted sources as saying that many judicial experts pointed that India had got its first woman Justice in the apex court in Fathima Beevi who retired in 1992 and eight women Judges have been appointed thereafter. Even today Justice Indira Banerjee is the serving Judge of the Supreme Court.
Though there is elation in Pakistan over such a possibility, some sections of the society are opposed to a pick and choose policy in top appointments.
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