Justice Musarrat Hilali is set to make history by becoming the first female chief justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on April 1, taking over from current CJ Qaiser Rasheed, who is retiring.
Justice Hilali will be the second female to take charge as CJ of a high court after Justice Tahira Safdar, who was previously the top judge of the Balochistan High Court.
Born in Peshawar on August 8, 1961, Justice Hilali is among the most senior judges of PHC and will serve as the chief justice until her retirement. She obtained her Law Degree from Khyber Law College Peshawar University and enrolled as an advocate of district courts in 1983, as an advocate of the high court in 1988, and as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 2006.
Throughout her career, Justice Hilali has achieved numerous milestones, particularly as a woman. She was the first female elected office bearer on the post of secretary at the bar from 1988-1989, vice president at the bar twice from 1992 to 1994, general secretary from 1997-1998, and the first female twice elected as an executive member of Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.
She also became the first female Additional Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 2001 to March 2004 and later served as the first female chairperson of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Tribunal.
Additionally, Justice Hilali served as the first female ombudsperson for the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace. She was elevated to the bench as an additional judge on March 26, 2013, and confirmed as a permanent judge of the PHC on March 13, 2014.
Last year in January, Justice Ayesha Malik made history in Pakistan's judicial system after being sworn in as the first female judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. With Justice Hilali's appointment as the first female chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, Pakistan continues to make strides towards gender equality in the legal profession.
