What advice Justice Afridi gave to his son

ISLAMABAD: When his son started law practice, Justice Yahya Afridi taught him three principles: be an upright professional, never use his name, refrain from reacting when a lawyer badmouths and don’t charge your client exorbitant fee. The upcoming chief justice has three sons and one of them is a barrister.

Justice Afridi wanted his son to join civil service but he was adamant on following in the footsteps of his father. That both went to Aitchison College is another commonality between the two. His son practices in Peshawar; mostly deals with constitutional and banking matters. A member of his family described the biggest challenge that Justice Afridi’s son faces. “At times, clients want to engage him due to his father. He refuses them straightforwardly.” [The family member requested anonymity of his son’s name due to the same reason.]

For Justice Afridi’s children, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah is Mansoor chacha because their friendship dates back to their college days and they are more like a family to each other. Although both judges are Aitchisonians, they were not classfellows there. However, they crossed paths with each other in Punjab University’s law college. Both graduated in 1988 from there but they were in different sections.

Justice Shah was in section A and Justice Afridi in section D there, said Shah Khawar, an eminent lawyer who was also in Justice Afridi’s section. “We were a kind of backbenchers,” Khawar said jokingly while recalling his time together with Justice Afridi to whom he described as a jolly and a fun-loving person. “That doesn’t mean we were incompetent fellows; we were good at both: fun and study. He’s a very upright person,” said Khawar of Justice Afridi, and very open-minded who would always be keen to know more. He gives a good audience to lawyers who feel very comfortable in his court. Call it a coincidence. Muneeb Akhtar, another judge who was considered for the top slot together with Afridi and Shah, was also doing law degrees during that time albeit he was one year junior to them. Again, he is an Aitchisonian too. While the former two did practice together under the umbrella of Afridi, Shah & Minallah law firm, Muneeb had a separate practice. The firm either liquidated or froze its operation after the third partner, Athar Minallah, was also inducted in the judiciary. Now, they all are in the Supreme Court.

Afridi and Minallah – both from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – are sons of civil servants. Fathers of both have served as chief secretary of KP in different periods. Omer Afridi, Justice Afridi’s father, also served as interior minister under the interim administration of Prime Minister Meraj Khalid. Justice Afridi’s grandfather, Munawar Khan Afridi, is the founder of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar other than serving as vice chancellor of Peshawar University.

A medical doctor by profession, Munawar Afridi, served in the British army and was decorated with the title of Commander of the British Army for his services to save armymen from malaria during World War II. He later also served in the World Health Organization. While one son is in the legal profession, another son of Justice Afridi is a doctor. Third one pursues a career in hotel management. Nikah ceremony of his doctor son took place at the Faisal Mosque last year, according to Shah Khawar. Where there are good things to hear about the upcoming chief justice, there is bad news for the media. Justice Afridi doesn’t watch news channels, let alone vlogs. He has zero consumption of social media. He uses a burner phone. He watches movies and drama series, mostly foreign. He is fond of polo and golf, hence watches videos related to them.