New Pakistan chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja takes oath

ISLAMABAD: Justice Jawwad S Khawaja was appointed as the 23rd chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court here today.

President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath of office to Justice Khawaja, who succeeds Justice Nasirul Mulk, at the oath-taking ceremony which was attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, federal ministers, members of parliament, chiefs of armed forces, lawyers and Supreme Court judges.

Justice Khawaja, 64, will serve as chief justice for only 23 days as he is also due to retire on September 9, but he was appointed as chief of the apex court under a law to appoint the senior-most sitting judge as the chief justice.

Justice Khawaja took his oath in Urdu and he is the first judge in the history of Pakistan whose appointment order is not in English. The summary of his appointment was also written in Urdu.

The chief justice is hearing a case to promote Urdu in the country. He is considered as a fearless proponent of upholding the law.

He was the first judge to resign in protest from the high court in March 2007 after former President Pervez Musharraf suspended the then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Earlier this month, he wrote dissenting note on the establishment of military courts which was endorsed by the Supreme Court.