Transfer of three high court judges to Islamabad High Court notified

ISLAMABAD: The government on Sunday notified the transfer of three high court judges to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) following the approval of President Asif Ali Zardari.

As per the notification, Justice Sarfaraz Muhammad Dogar of the Lahore High Court (LHC) was transferred to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro was transferred from the Sindh High Court (SHC) to the IHC and Justice Muhammad Asif was transferred from the Balochistan High Court (BHC) to the IHC.

On Saturday, three judges from different high courts of the country were transferred to the IHC amid speculations that the capital court’s next chief justice would be a “transferred judge”.

Now Justice Dogar will be the senior-most judge in the IHC after Chief Justice Amir Farooq.

Justice Muhammad Asif, who came from the Balochistan High Court, had become an additional judge recently, while Justice Soomro, a judge of the Sindh High Court, had become a judge of the high court two years ago.

The development came a day after five IHC judges expressed their concern over media reports claiming that a “transferred judge” would be considered for the capital high court’s top slot.

The letter, signed by Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, was addressed to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum and SHC Chief Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui.