Feminists Divided Over Ayesha Malik’s Elevation to SC
Justice Ayesha would have replaced Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Mushir Alam, titling herself as the first female chief justice of the country in the future but now the case is in a stalemate
The elevation of Lahore High Court (LHC) Senior Judge, Ayesha Malik, was halted by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), putting lawyers and feminists on the warpath.
Justice Ayesha would have replaced Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Mushir Alam, titling herself as the first female chief justice of the country in the future but now the case is in a stalemate.
Sources claimed that the JCP meeting ended inconclusively as the vote count resulted in a tie.
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Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Law Minister, and Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) voted in the favor of Ayesha Malik.
Whereas, Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice (retd) Dost Muhammad Khan, and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative Akhtar Hussain voted against her appointment.
It is generally believed that all aforementioned members are pro-feminism but surprisingly, they didn’t vote for a female who could be the first female chief justice of Pakistan.
The final decision was halted because Justice Qazi Faez Isa was out of the country and couldn’t attend the meeting.
Further, in response to Ayesha’s nomination in the apex court, lawyers held a protest as they believe that it has violated the seniority principles.
Disappointed feminists such as Reema Omer, Maleeka Bokhari, Maria Memon, and others threw brickbats at the commission body’s decision.
Most unfortunate, and a reminder of how problematic the absence of objective, transparent criteria in nominating judges for the SC (and HCs) is
Seniority can be one factor to consider, but surely it can’t be the only one when the candidate could bring so much more to the bench https://t.co/RE12YDuwEd
— Reema Omer (@reema_omer) September 9, 2021
Today is a BLACK Day for 🇵🇰 as the Judicial Commission failed to elect our first woman SC Judge. 73 years & no woman in SC. Four heroes stood for the equal rights of women. Disapp that despite her high merit she was not elevated. History will judge the 4 indiv who failed us.
— Maleeka Bokhari (@MalBokhari) September 9, 2021
Nomination of Justice Ayesha Malik as Supreme Court Judge could not be approved by Judicial Commission of Pakistan.
So,again,no female judge in the Supreme Court.
India has four.
Nepal, Malaysia & Srilanka have had a female SC chief justice already.
Really disappointing!
— Maria Memon (@Maria_Memon) September 9, 2021
Altogether, they believed that though seniority can be one factor to consider but it can be overseen in the case of Ayesha Malik who has so much to offer.
