ISLAMABAD: Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali was sworn in as chief justice of Pakistan on Thursday.

He will serve on the august post for 15 months and retire on Dec 31 next year.

Justice Jamali has replaced Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja who retired on Wednesday after serving as chief justice for 24 days.

President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to Justice Jamali at a ceremony held at the presidency.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, governors of Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, chief ministers of Balochistan and GB, Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, federal ministers for finance and information, services chiefs, parliamentarians, diplomats, judges of the apex court and former chief justices attended the ceremony.

The oath-taking ceremony was conducted in Urdu.

Justice Jamali is a descendant of Qutub Jamaluddin Ahmed Hansvi, a disciple and Khalifa of Baba Fariduddin Shakar Gunj.

His parents migrated from Jaipur, India, in 1947. He was born on Dec 31, 1951, in Hyderabad.

Justice Jamali obtained bachelor’s degrees in commerce and law from the University of Sindh in 1971 and 1973, respectively.

He was enrolled at the Sindh Bar Council as an advocate of lower court in 1975, of high court in 1977 and of the Supreme Court in 1987. He practised in Hyderabad and mainly handled cases of civil and constitutional nature. He was elevated as a judge of the Sindh High Court in May, 1998.

He was among the judges who refused to take fresh oath under Gen Pervez Musharraf’s Provisional Constitution Order in 2007. He was reappointed as a judge and chief justice of the Sindh High Court on Aug 27, 2008 and elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court in August 2009.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2015

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