Pakistan sharia court appoints first female judge in 33 years

Pakistan's sharia court has reportedly appointed a female judge to hear proceedings under the country's Islamic legislation for the first time in its 33-year history.

Ashraf Jehan, who was serving as an additional judge at the high court in Sindh, made history as she took the oath in Karachi.

Chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan, Agha Rafiq said that it was a historic oath-taking ceremony when an able lady judge had joined the Shariat Court, Dawn reports.

According to the report, the court was established in 1980 during the rule of military dictator Ziaul Haq as part of a sweeping Islamisation of Pakistan's institutions.

The sharia court examines the country's laws to check them for conformity with Islamic injunctions and hears appeals under religious legislation known as the 'Hudood Laws', which run parallel to the penal code.

Ahmed said that there was no bar in the constitution to make a woman the judge of Shariat Court and there is no discrimination between men and women, the report added.