SC declares military trials of civilians null, void

The Supreme Court (SC) declared on Monday the military trials of civilians who were arrested following former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest in May null and void.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan led the bench that included Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik.

Presenting his arguments, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman said he would explain to the bench why a constitutional amendment was necessary to form military courts in 2015 to try the terrorists.

He said that if the accused had a “direct link” to the armed forces, then a constitutional amendment was not required. Awan further said that the suspects would be tried under Section 2(1)(d)(ii) of the Official Secrets Act.

In the last hearing, Awan informed the court that the military’s top officials and the government are seriously considering providing appeal against the verdict of the military court (MC) to the level of high court.

Govt files plea

On Sunday, the federal government filed a miscellaneous petition in the SC, informing the apex court about the commencement of the civilians’ trial in military courts.

The federal government’s plea told the court that as many as 102 people had been arrested on the charge of being involved in May 9 and 10 events.

“The trial has been started in military courts to provide justice to the arrested persons. The trial is being conducted keeping in view the interest of the detainees,” the petition said.

The petition was filed after the SC had fixed today to hear the case.

Last week, petitioner Junaid Razzaq, father of Arzam Junaid, who is in military custody, approached the apex court to expedite the hearing of the case, stating that the military court trials had already begun, and requested that the case be scheduled for the third week of October.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has lauded constitution of the bench by SC to take up the case.

PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan regretted that trials of civilians in military courts had begun despite assurance by AGP to the apex courts that no civilian would be tried in military courts.

“The trials of civilians in military court despite assurance by the AGP to the top court is a clear deviation from the constitution,” he regretted.

He expressed optimism that the bench would also take notice of the civilians’ trial in military courts, adding there was a need to immediately halt such trials as it was a brazen violation of the constitution.

Background

Former chief justice of Pakistan Jawwad S Khawaja, senior lawyer Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, and the members of civil society have filed petitions under Article 184 (3) of the constitution before the apex court, asking it to declare that the trials of the civilians arrested in light of the May 9 and 10 protests under the Army Act and Official Secrets Act are in violation of Article 25 of the constitution, until and unless legal and reasonable guidelines are framed to structure the discretion not to arbitrarily try civilians under the Army Act.

On May 9, following arrest of the PTI chief from the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC), PTI supporters thronged the streets in protest.

The protesters damaged several military and state installations, including the Corps Commander’s residence (Jinnah House) in Lahore and the gates of the military’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.