The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is scheduled to meet again on February 1 to nominate 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 Sessions Judges: Kaleem Arshad Khan, Farrukh Jamshed, Inaamullah Khan and Sophia Waqar Khattak. Lawyers whose names will be considered for nomination to 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 Qazi Jawad and 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 the posts of Additional Judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC) and Balochistan High Court (BHC). In the first meeting, the commission by a majority of its total membership nominated Islamabad District & Sessions Judge Muhammad Azam Khan and Advocate Supreme Court Inaam Ameen Minhas as additional judges to the IHC. In the second meeting, the JCP unanimously nominated Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Ayub Khan – both advocates of the Supreme Court as additional judges of the BHC. The Council nominated Muhammad Najam-ud-Din Mengal for the same position by majority vote. Mengal is also a lawyer for the Supreme Court.
"At both meetings, the commission unanimously decided that candidates who did not secure the necessary majority of the total membership of the JCP to finalize their nominations this time may be re-nominated for future vacancies," said a statement issued by the SC Registrar’s Office.
