Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Supreme Court of

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani is a native of the Punjab province. He obtained his Masters in Political Science from , Lahore, and law degree from the University of Punjab. He studied Constitutional Law at the Institute of Advance Legal Studies, University of London, UK. Chief Justice Jillani was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters by the Southern Virginia University in 2007.

Justice Jillani’s legal and judicial career spans over 30 years. He began his law practice at the District Courts Multan in 1974 and enrolled as an Advocate of the High Court in 1976. He was elected to Punjab Bar Council in 1978 and appointed as the Assistant Advocate General Punjab in 1979. At the appellate level, he was enrolled as Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1983 and promoted as Additional Advocate General of Punjab in 1988. A few years later, he was appointed as the Advocate General of Punjab in 1993.

In 1994, Prime Minister appointed Justice Jillani to the Bench of the . A decade later in 2004 he was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In 2007, along with other senior judges of the Pakistan Supreme Court, Justice Jillani was unconstitutionally removed from the Bench following the imposition of emergency rule by the then President . After the restoration of democracy and the election of new a government in 2009, Justice Jillani recommenced his duties as Judge of the Supreme Court. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court in December 2013.

Chief Justice Jillani is regarded as a liberal, independent and balanced Judge. As a Judge of the High Court and Supreme Court, he has delivered notable judicial judgments on various issues of domestic and international concern such as the enforcement of fundamental rights, gender equality, the right of an adult woman to marry a person of her choice in Islam, declaring the right to education as a fundamental right, permitting dual nationality, laying down guidelines for qualitative improvement in legal practice and medical education.

Chief Justice Jillani has participated in several international conferences and colloquiums and has presented on topics such as “Domestic Application of International Human Rights”, “Gender Justice”, “Alternative Dispute Resolution”, “Forced Marriages”, “Transnational Child Abduction” and “Religious Tolerance”.

In 2009, Chief Justice Jillani was appointed as Co-Chair of the International Working Party on Mediation established in the context of the Malta Process by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. He is also Pakistan’s representative and liaison judge at the Hague International Judicial Network.