Justice Yahya Afridi was sworn in as Pakistan’s 30th Chief Justice on Saturday, taking over from Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who retired on October 25. President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to Justice Afridi during a formal ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
The event was attended by notable figures including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the heads of the armed forces, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, and several Supreme Court judges, such as Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Ayesha Malik. Also present were Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, Governor Sardar Saleem Haider, and former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Justice Afridi’s appointment marks the first selection of a Chief Justice under the new guidelines introduced by the 26th Constitutional Amendment, passed by the government the previous week. His term as Chief Justice is set for a fixed three-year period.
In his new role, Justice Afridi heads the reconstituted committee under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, which oversees case assignments. Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar have joined him as members. Additionally, Justice Afridi now presides over the Supreme Judicial Council, with Justices Shah and Akhtar, as well as the two senior-most Chief Justices from the high courts, serving as council members.
Justice Afridi has a distinguished career and academic background. Born on January 23, 1965, in Dera Ismail Khan, he hails from the Adam Khel Afridi tribe of the Kohat Frontier Region. Educated at Aitchison College, he pursued a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Economics from Government College Lahore and completed his Master’s in Economics from Punjab University. Awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, he earned his LLM from Jesus College, University of Cambridge, and later participated in a Young Commonwealth Lawyers scholarship program at the Institute of Legal Studies in London.
Justice Afridi began his legal career practicing in Peshawar, where he also taught International, Labor, and Administrative Law at Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar. He was admitted to the High Court bar in 1990 and to the Supreme Court bar in 2004. He has served as an Assistant Advocate General for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and as Federal Counsel for the Government of Pakistan.
In 2010, Justice Afridi was appointed an Additional Judge of the Peshawar High Court and confirmed in 2012. He made history as the first judge from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to become Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court in 2016 before being elevated to the Supreme Court on June 28, 2018.
