Justice Tasaddaq Husain Jilani will be sworn in as Chief Justice of Pakistan on Thursday (tomorrow).
Justice Jilani will replace Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who is retiring today after staying as CJP for more than eight years.
President Mamnoon Hussain, though in South Africa at present to participate in the last rites of the legendary leader Nelson Mandela, will return by then to administer oath to the new CJP.
It is the first time in the country’s history that all important institutions have had new heads with a gap of few months.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, elected as a result of the May 11 elections, became prime minister for a third time in June. Then Mamnoon Hussain took over as the new head of state on September 9, replacing Asif Ali Zardari who stayed in office for five years, the mandated term.
General Raheel Sharif became the new army chief only recently, after General Kayani served out two terms of three years each. Moreover, a new acting chief election commissioner also took over only a few days ago.
While in the past the president, the prime minister and the army chief collectively took all important decisions and were known as troika, the situation has changed after the 18th amendment. Now, the president is just a figurehead, but the army chief retains his importance because of his military might.
