A brief look at careers of potential candidates for new CJP

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, or Justice Yahya Afridi? The countdown for the appointment of new CJP has begun as the NA speaker has sought names of the Parliamentary members after the passage of the 26th constitutional amendment. 

Sources reveal that the Speaker of the National Assembly has requested parliamentary leaders to submit names for the 12-member committee, which will comprise 8 members from the National Assembly and 4 members from the Senate.

Once the committee is formed, a three-member panel of senior judges will be presented by the Ministry of Law for consideration. The parliamentary committee will then select the new Chief Justice from this panel.

Brief profile of senior judges

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, senior puisne judge, is the senior-most judge on the seniority list who can be named as the next chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) after Qazi Faez Isa's retirement on October 25 as the top judge.

Justice Shah was elevated to the bench at the Lahore High Court in 2009 and after serving as the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court for almost two years was elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in early 2018.

He did his schooling at Aitchison College, Lahore and got his law degree from the University of Cambridge, UK, as well as, the University of the Punjab, where he also obtained a degree in Masters in Economics. 

After serving as the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice for almost two years, Justice Shah was elevated to the SC in early 2018.

Justice Munib Akhtar

Born in 1963, Justice Munib Akhtar was elevated to the Supreme Court in 2018 and he is the second senior-most judge on the seniority list to be selected for the post of chief justice.

Practice: Supreme Court, High Courts, principal practice at High Court of Sindh

Areas of practice of Justice Munib are civil, commercial, corporate, arbitration and taxation matters. He also remained as an additional judge of the high court in 2009 and was confirmed in 2011. 

Justice Afridi

As per the seniority list, Justice Yahya Afridi is the third senior-most judge and he served as the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) chief justice from December 30, 2016, until his elevation to the SC in 2018.

Justice Afridi became the first judge from the Federally Administered Tribal Area to assume the office of the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court when he took oath on 30th December 2016.