ISLAMABAD: The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, on Friday, conditionally allowed military courts to announce the verdict of remaining 85 persons, still in army custody for their alleged involvement in 9th May, 2023, riots.
A six-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood on December 13, 2023, by a majority of 5-1 had suspended the order of SC five-judge judgment. Justice Mussarat Hilali had disagreed with the majority order. The court’s order said; “The military courts may continue the trials, but the final judgment will be subject to the outcome of this Court.”
Out of 103 persons, who were arrested in connection with May 9 insurgency, 20 suspects were released following the confirmation of their sentences and subsequent remission of their punishments by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir. Later on, two more accused were added in the list.
A seven-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Mussarat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan resumed the intra-court appeals (ICAs) against the SC’s judgment on civilians’ trial by military courts.
The caretaker federal government, Defence Ministry, Ministry of Interior, and the interim governments of the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have filed the ICAs against the five-member bench order. The Sindh interim government also had filed the appeal but later on withdrew it.
The constitutional bench’s order said; “The final judgment of 85 persons, who are under the custody and facing trial before the military courts, be announced and the remissions admissible to the said persons be granted and persons who can be released after remissions they be released forthwith, and the persons who have yet to undergo the sentence awarded to them, their custody be handed over to the concerned jail authorities.”
“The announcement of judgment will be subject to final determination of these appeals and without prejudice to the rights of 85 accused persons,” it added.
Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman assured that they (the accused) will be dealt with in accordance with the jail manual.
Before conclusion, Justice Amin hoped that trials of civilians by the military courts would be completed by the end of January. He said so many important cases; including petitions against 26th Amendments are in pipeline, adding after the decision on ICAs against military courts’ SC judgment, the petitions against 26th Amendment would be fixed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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