ISLAMABAD: As two lawyers - Anees Jilani and Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb - have been short-listed for the vacant posts of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges, the lawyers’ representatives have vowed to protest the appointments.

Initially, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) received the names of seven Islamabad-based lawyers for the single seat reserved for the federal capital.

They were Anees Jilani, Mujtaba Haider Shirazi, Syed Nayyab Hassan Gardezi, Zulfiqar Abbasi, Syed Mohammad Anwar Shah, Rehanuddin Khan Golra and Haroon Rashid.

The JCP in its meeting on March 4 was to recommend the appointment on the seat but deferred the matter as the IHC administration had forwarded seven names for the single seat.

Sources in the JCP told Dawn that after short-listing the candidates, the high court forwarded the name of Anees Jilani for the seat reserved for Islamabad. The name of advocate Jillani was also considered by the JCP last year but was deferred because he held the dual nationality of the US. Now he has, however, rescinded the US nationality.

The name of Mr Aurangzeb was forwarded to the JCP against the seat of KP. Advocate Aurangzeb is the grandson of Wali of Swat and is likely to be appointed on the KP seat which is going to be vacant in May.

At present, Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan is working on the KP seat. Interestingly, the JCP also considered the name of advocate Aurangzeb last year but he could not be appointed as a judge because his age was less than 45 years at that time.

Mohsin Kayani, the president of the IHC bar association, told Dawn that he would meet Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and register a protest over the proposed appointments.

He said both the lawyers did not belong to the Islamabad bar and their elevation would widen the sense of deprivation among the Islamabad-based lawyers.

“There has not been a single Islamabad-based judge in the IHC since its establishment in January 2011 while the lawyers of all provinces have been made judges of the high court,” said advocate Kayani.