The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is expected to meet again on February 1 to appoint nine additional judges to the Peshawar High Court (PHC). The meeting will be held at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi. According to sources, a total of 40 names have been sent to the JCP for consideration. These include the names of four district and session judges: Kaleem Arshad Khan, Farrukh Jamshed, Inaamullah Khan and Sophia Waqar Khattak. The lawyers whose names will be considered for appointment to the PHC include Abdul Fayyaz, Kaleem Khan, Aamir Javed, Atif Ali Khan, Aurangzeb, Bakht Jamal Khan, Basharat Khan, Bilal Ahmed Durrani, Ghulam Muhammad Sipal, Junaid Anwar, Kausar Ali Shah and Mansoor Tariq. The list also includes Muhammad Ali Khan, Muhammad Bashar Naveed, Muhammad Habib Qureshi, Inam Khan, Ikram Khan, Muhammad Javed Khan, Muhammad Rafiq, Muhammad Tariq Afridi, Mukhtar Ahmed Muniri, Nasir Mahmood, Nauman Haq, Qazi Babar Irshad and Qazi Jawad. Ehsanullah. Lawyers Rahila Bibi, Sabtullah Khan, Sadiq Ali, Salahuddin, Sardar Ali Raza, Shabnam Nawaz, Shah Faisal, Shumail Butt, Syed Mudassir Amir, Syed Shakeel Khan Gilani and Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah are also included. A day earlier, on Friday, the JCP held two separate meetings to consider candidates for additional judgeships in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the Balochistan High Court (BHC). At the first meeting, the commission, by a majority vote of all its members, appointed District and Sessions Judge of Islamabad Muhammad Azam Khan and Supreme Court advocate Inaam Ameen Minhas as judges additional to the IHC. In the second meeting, the JCP unanimously appointed Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Ayub Khan, both Supreme Court lawyers, as additional judges to the BHC. The council nominated Muhammad Najam-ud-Din Mengal for the same post with a majority vote. Mengal is also a Supreme Court lawyer.
"During both meetings, the committee unanimously decided that candidates who did not obtain the required majority of all JCP members for the finalization of their candidacy this time could be reappointed for future positions vacant." said a statement released by the SC Registrar’s Office.
