Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Saturday took the oath as Chief Justice of Pakistan.
In a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad, President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath to Justice Ahmed.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and other ministers and officials were in attendance.
Justice Ahmed, who replaces Justice Asif Saeed Khosa as the chief justice, will serve till February 21, 2022.
Justice Khosa retired on Friday. At a gathering before officially addressing a full-court reference organised at the Supreme Court on the eve of his retirement, just a day after a special court released the detailed verdict in the high treason case against former dictator General retired Pervez Musharraf, Khosa said a malicious campaign has been initiated against the judiciary but the truth shall finally prevail.
Justice Ahmed was born on February 2, 1957, in Karachi to the family of Noor Muhammad, a distinguished lawyer. His elementary schooling was from the city's Gulistan School, according to the Supreme Court website. He then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Government National College, Karachi after which he obtained his law degree from S.M. Law College, Karachi.
He enrolled as an advocate on January 18, 1986, and joined the High Court on April 4, 1988. Subsequently, he became an advocate of the Supreme Court on September 15, 2001.
Justice Ahmed was elected honorary secretary of the Sindh High Court Bar Association in Karachi for the year 1999-2000.
Throughout his legal practice, he mostly remained on the civil-corporate side, serving as the legal advisor to numerous multinational and local companies, banks and financial institutions.