ISLAMABAD - President Mamnoon Hussain yesterday notified the appointment of Justice Saqib Nisar as Chief Justice of Pakistan and he will step in the shoes of incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on his retirement.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali will relinquish his post on December 30 and as per presidential notification he would assume the office on December 31, the last day of the year.
Born on Jan. 18, 1954 in Lahore Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had obtained an undergraduate degree in law from University of Punjab.
He practiced in civil, commercial, tax and constitutional law in Lahore before his selection as the judge of Lahore High Court.
He was elevated to the apex court on Feb. 18, 2010 and since Sept. 10 2015 he was the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the elevation of Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali as Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Before becoming a judge, he was an advocate of Supreme Court Bar Association and Lahore High Court Bar Association. He was elected Secretary General of Lahore High Court Bar Association in 1991.
In the second stint of Mian Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister of the country Mian Saqib Nisar was appointed as Federal Law Secretary as an advocate because during that period there was practice of even picking a senior lawyer on the post of Federal Secretary Law.
The legal fraternity had taken the notification of Justice Saqib Nisar with a bit surprise as it was obvious that being the senior judge of the apex court he would be assuming the office after the retirement of incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan and normally the notification would come as routine a couple of days before the retirement date of the incumbent Chief Justice.