GILGIT: Prime Minis­ter Shehbaz Sharif on Friday approved the appointment of three judges for the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court on a permanent basis.

The prime minister, as the chairman of GB Council — the body tasked with appointing judges to the region’s court — has approved the names sent by the GB governor.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Malik Anayatur Rehman, Johar Ali and Raja Shakeel Ahmed have been made permanent judges of the GB chief court.

The GB chief court has equal status as other high courts of Pakistan and its decisions can be appealed to the Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit-Baltistan. Currently, there are seven judges and one chief justice in the court.

The three judges were appointed on an ad-hoc basis in Sept 2021 by former prime minister Imran Khan. Their tenure expired in 2022, which was extended by PM Shehbaz for another year. The judges have been made permanent almost a month before the expiry of their one-year extension in September.

Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2023