Consensus on military courts: Parliamentary panel to finalise draft today

A parliamentary panel on Wednesday failed to evolve consensus on the draft papered by the National Assembly Speaker-headed committee to give a three-year extension to the tenure of military courts for speedy trail of hardcore terrorists. However, the NA speaker-led committee comprising parliamentary leaders of all political parties, both in National Assembly and Senate, will hold a meeting today (Thursday) to finalise the draft for legislation on the issue through consensus.
The sub-committee of the NA speaker-led committee held detail deliberations in the chair of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid but it ended inconclusive as members belonging to Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf (PTI) insisted that the old draft should be given a constitutional cover instead of formulating a new draft.
PTI MNA Dr Shireen Mazari, a member of the sub-committee told the reporters after the meeting that her party has reservations over the new draft and there could not be a consensus unless PTI apprehensions are addressed by the government. "How can we agree on the new draft as we have some reservations and we have told the government to address our reservations and then there could be a consensus as the issue is a bit sensitive," she added.
Syed Naveed Qamar of PPPP said if the government had shown some maturity, it could have easily build a consensus, adding the new draft may be misused for political victimisation.
The Jamiat Uleam-e-Islam (Fazl) stood by the government side and supported the new draft for three-year extension in the tenure of military courts. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah has also reiterated demand for convening a joint session of parliament to discuss the revival of military courts and overall security situation in the country in the wake of recent terror attacks.
In an effort to break the deadlock over revival of military courts, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday also phoned to parliamentary leaders of different political parties and stressed the need for a "prompt decision" in the wake of renewed terror attacks in the country. Dar also had a phone call to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq asking him to facilitate early convening of a meeting of the parliamentary committee on military courts so that a decision could be made as soon as possible.