Coming September 9, Pakistan will likely get its first woman Supreme Court judge. According to local news reports, Senior Judge Muir Alam will retire on August 17. Currently, one of the two Lahore High Court judges and the fourth-highest judge, Aisha Malik, can ascend to the Supreme Court to fill vacancies.
The media reported that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Gulzal Ahmed, had nominated her for this position and requested that a meeting of the Pakistan Judicial Council (JCP) be held on September 9 to consider the matter. According to media reports, if promoted, she will continue to serve as a Supreme Court judge until March 2031.
However, a senior lawyer who did not want to be named expressed concern to this newspaper, "Different lawyer committees and associations may oppose the measure on the principle of seniority because it once again rises to the upper court of junior judges of the Supreme Court."
The unidentified chief lawyer cited the need to break the gender glass ceiling of the country’s high-level judicial institutions and cited an example of the Supreme Court of India to the media: “Judge Fathima Beevi was the first to be promoted. The Supreme Court of India. He retired in April 1992. Since then, eight judges have been promoted to the High Court of India, among which Judge Indira Banerjee still serves as a Supreme Court judge."