ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Sunday briefed the first batch of 25 district judicial officers chosen for a training and exchange programme in China, the Supreme Court said in a press release.
The officers were picked from across the country as top performers, and the court said the selection was meant in particular to recognise those serving in underserved, remote, and conflict-affected areas. They were nominated in consultation with the high courts and come from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. The group also includes officers serving at the Supreme Court and the Federal Judicial Academy.
Afridi called the officers ambassadors of Pakistan’s judiciary and urged them to uphold the dignity and values of the institution while studying China’s court practices, technology, and case management systems. He said exposure to foreign judicial systems would broaden their outlook and introduce them to new approaches to adjudication, court administration, and efficiency, and he encouraged them to turn what they learn into practical improvements back home.
The programme
The delegation will attend a “Seminar for Judges from Pakistan” run by China’s National Judges College from November 18 to December 1. The two-week programme includes discussions with senior Chinese judges and legal experts and visits to courts in Beijing and other locations, including Quanzhou.
The exchange runs under a memorandum of understanding between the Supreme Court of Pakistan and China’s Supreme People’s Court. The Supreme Court said picking the first batch marked a step towards giving the district judiciary, which it called the foundation of the justice system, the kind of international exposure that has so far been open mainly to the superior courts.
