Chief Justice Yahya Afridi Highlights Five-Pillar Reform Agenda at Islamabad Ceremony

Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi has said the Supreme Court’s reform agenda is based on five fundamental pillars aimed at strengthening the justice system and improving the delivery of justice. Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, he said strengthening the legal and regulatory framework remains a key component of the reform agenda, while judicial independence must be accompanied by institutional accountability. He emphasized that the ultimate objective of the reforms is to ensure more efficient and accessible justice.

Chief Justice Afridi said significant progress had been made in the digitization and barcoding of cases, while paperless courts and e-filing were being introduced as part of the judiciary’s digital transformation. He said the next phase would focus on establishing an integrated digital justice system, for which a robust data infrastructure would be essential. He added that the Supreme Court had also completed the compliance process for ISO certification.

Highlighting progress in case disposal, the chief justice said the Supreme Court had decided 613 death penalty appeals between 2015 and 2026. He said 2,972 pre-arrest bail applications and 2,926 post-arrest bail applications had also been disposed of. Pending tenancy cases had been reduced to 133, while 4,302 service-related cases had been decided. Chief Justice Afridi said the progress reflected the court’s efforts to prioritize important cases and improve the overall efficiency of the justice system.