By Mashal Khan

ISLAMABAD (TSAT) - Pakistan on Monday made another history as Justice Ayesha Malik has taken oath as the first woman judge of the country’s top court.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed has administered the oath during a ceremony in Islamabad, that was attended by the judges, lawyers and other officials.

Justice Ayesha Malik earlier served as judge in the Lahore High Court and she was evaluated to the apex court last week

Her evaluations was opposing by the Supreme Court Bar Association as the legal fraternity viewed that she is on the number fourth on senior most judges list of the Lahore High Court and according to the past principles the most senior judge should be appointed from the LHC.

However, later the country’s parliamentary committee which recommend the judges appointment to the President of Pakistan also approved her evaluation.

Justice Ayesha Malik had done her LLM from Harvard Law School Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, later she worked with law firms in Pakistan before appointment as judge in Lahore High Court since 27 March 2012.

55-year old Justice Malik will have long tenure in the apex court and expected to become the first Chief Justice of Pakistan in the future.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan also congratulated Justice Malik for becoming the first woman judge in the country top court.

• Justice Ayesha Malik profile 

Malik completed her early education from schools in Paris and New York and her Senior Cambridge from Karachi Grammar School in Pakistan, according to her profile published on the  Supreme Court website.

She studied law at the Pakistan College of Law in the northeastern city of Lahore, before doing her LLM from Harvard Law School in the US, where she was named a London H Gammon Fellow in 1998-1999 for outstanding merit.

Before being appointed as a Lahore High Court judge in 2012, Malik worked in various capacities in law firms, and also authored a number of publications on trade and financial services, judicial independence and Pakistan’s secular laws.

Malik also served as  a reporter for Pakistan for the Oxford Reports on International Law in Domestic Courts, a publication of the Oxford University Press.

She has been a pro bono counsel for NGOs working on poverty alleviation, microfinance and skills training programs, according to her profile.

She has also taught banking law at the University of Punjab and mercantile law at the College of Accounting and Management Sciences, Karachi.