ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan gained its second female judge on Friday as Justice Mussarat Hilali took oath.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial administered the oath to Justice Musarrat Hilali during a ceremony held at the the apex court’s ceremonial hall.
Before assuming her new responsibilities, Hilali had been serving as the Peshawar High Court chief justice.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, senior judges and lawyers were also present in the oath-taking ceremony.
After Justice Hilali’s elevation to the apex court, the number of SC judges has increased to sixteen out of a total sanctioned strength of seventeen.
On Wednesday, President Dr Arif Alvi had formally appointed Justice Musarrat Hilali as a SC judge. The development had come a day after the Parliamentary Committee on Judges’ Appointments (PCJA) approved the unanimous decision of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on 14 June to elevate the Hilali to the apex court.
In January 2022, Justice Ayesha Malik had become the first-ever woman judge to reach the supreme court.
Justice Musarrat Hilali was sworn in as the first female chief justice of the Peshawar High Court on 1 April after Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan retired from the esteemed position.
After this development, she also became the second woman judge to become the top jidge of a high court in the country after Justice Tahira Safdar, the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) from September 2018 to October 2019.
Justice Musarrat Hilali’s career
Justice Musarrat Hilali was born in Peshawar on 8 August 1961. She received her law degree from Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar (UoP), and was enrolled as district courts advocate in 1983. She started practice as a high court advocate in 1988 and enrolled in the apex court in 2006.
