Islamabad:
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved on Thursday nine Nine nominations for the position of the additional judges of the Superior Court of Lahore, but none of the female nominees could obtain enough votes for the coveted slot.
Of 49, seven were the nominated for the appointment of additional judges of the LHC. However, the commission influenced by the Executive did not support women’s nominations.
Interestingly, there is only one judge in the LHC of 35 judges at this time.
The main political parties, the PMLN and the PPP, as well as the leaders of the independent group, have succeeded in appointing the judges of their election in all the higher courts after the 26th amendment.
The Executive managed well the main judges of the superior courts by not approving resolutions of provincial assemblies for the constitution of constitutional banks.
Regarding the non -approval of any woman for LHC judge, Atira Ikram Advocate says that she is in line with other “fairly unfortunate judicial decisions of our time.”
“The lack of fair representation of women in public spheres, particularly the Judiciary, continues to undermine our potential. The appointment of judges is not a problem limited to the representation of women in the law, but a symbol of inadequate protection and Improvement of women’s rights in every country as the rights of divorce, custody and inheritance to name a few, “he adds.
Initiative of Women in Law the founder of Pakistan, Nida Usman, Chaudhary, says that, since this JCP is questionable anyway, “my only comfort here is that they did a favor by not designating any woman and avoiding them the stigma of Becoming judges under a system whose constitutionality is low.
Nida states that the fact that all the designated ones are lawyers of the Supreme Court (ASC) show how another of those invisible barriers that hinder the entry of women into the superior judiciary. Since only 4 percent ASC are women, this severely reduces the set of possible candidates if this is really a requirement.
“It also shows that the rules of JCP 2024 have not been able to guarantee diversity in judicial appointments by attending the metrics and criteria centered on men who probably fail marginalized groups most of the time,” says Nida Usman Chaudhry.
Since the approval of the 18th Constitutional amendment in 2010, there is no judge of any minority community in the Superior Judiciary that includes the Supreme Court and five superior courts.
Meanwhile, the JCP, led by the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Yahya Afridi, approved nine nominations for appointment as additional judges in the Superior Court of Lahore with majority votes. They include Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom, Malik Waqar Haider Awan, Sardar Akbar Ali, Syed Ahsan Race Kazmi, Malik Javid Iqbal Wins, Muhammad Jawad Zafar, Khalid Ishaq, Malik Muhammadawais Khalid and Sultan Mahmood.
The commission unanimously decided that the nominees who failed to ensure the required majority can be re-nominated for future vacancies.
The president also appreciated the services provided by the staff of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) for helping members use the web portal for the meeting procedures.
