Hours after Yahya Afridi was sworn in as the 30th chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and lawmaker Sher Afzal Khan Marwat has praised him for his neutral role and for being balanced.
Speaking to media in Islamabad, Marwat said that he had appeared before Yahya Afridi for more than 20 years, and he was an “extremely balanced judge”.
“I offer my congratulations to Yahya Afridi for the CJP role, and PTI was not opposed to his appointment as CJP,” he said.
“Our only issue was that the principle of seniority should not be violated in the appointment of the apex court’s top judge,” Marwat said while clarifying his party’s concerns over the appointment of the third senior-most judge as the CJP instead of senior-most Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
Earlier in the day, Justice Yahya Afridi was sworn in as the new CJP following the retirement of Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Justice Afridi was nominated by a special parliamentary committee formed under the 26th Amendment.
The committee consisted of 12 members, including eight from the National Assembly and four from the Senate, who nominated Justice Afridi as the next CJP. After President Asif Ali Zardari’s assent, Yahya Afridi was officially appointed as the first CJP under new SC rules.
