Justice Musarrat Hilali appointed to SC

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi approved the appoinment of Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) Musarrat Hilali as a judge of the Supreme Court (SC.

As per the notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Wednesday, Justice Hilali’s appointment would come into effect as soon as she takes oath.

With her elevation, the SC will have two women judges with Justice Ayesha Malik being the first woman judge.

After the appoitment of Justice Hilali, the number of judges in the top court will be 16. The Suprme Court has the sanctioned strength of 17 judges.

Justice Hilali’s name was recommended by senior SC Justice Qazi Faez Isa on May 2 to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan to fill the two vacant positions of judges in the SC.

Justice Musarrat Hilali

Justice Hilali, born in Peshawar on August 8, 1961, sworn in as the first woman chief justice of the PHC on April 1 after Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan retired from the post.

With her appointment, she become the second woman judge to hold the top slot in a high court , following in the footsteps of Justice Tahira Safdar, who served as the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court from September 2018 to October 2019.

She earned her law degree from Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar, and became a lawyer in the district courts in 1983.

In 1988, she started practice as a lawyer in the high court, and in 2006, she was enrolled as a lawyer in the Supreme Court.

Justice Hilali actively participated in the PHC Bar Association, holding various positions such as the first female secretary, the vice-president and the general secretary. She was also elected twice as an executive member of the SC Bar Association for the years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

She also participated in the 2007 lawyers’ movement, which began after a reference was filed against the then-chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

During the movement, her residence was raided by the police, resulting in her leg getting fractured when they attempted to arrest her.