President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to the newly appointed top judge in a ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
Justice Yahya is the first to be appointed as the CJP following the enacted 26th Constitutional Amendment. He was nominated by a Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) and approved by President Asif Ali Zardari under Articles 175A(3), 177, and 179 of the Constitution.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chairman Senate Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, the Federal Ministers, and the three Services Chiefs including COAS Asim Munir attended the oath-taking ceremony, along with fellow Supreme Court judges.
Senior puisne judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who would have become the CJP had the constitutional amendments not been in place, missed the event. He along with other judges including Justices Munib Akhtar, Ayesha Malik, and Athar Minallah skipped the full-court reference on the last day of CJP Afridi’s predecessor Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Moreover, former CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Governor Sardar Saleem Haider, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, alongside parliamentarians were also present in today’s ceremony.
