By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will hear on Monday a dozen petitions challenging the trials of civilians in military courts, a move that could have implications for the fate of more than 100 people accused of involvement in violent protests earlier this year.
A five-member bench, led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, will take up petitions in a case that analysts said is certain to pit the judiciary under Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa against the country’s all-powerful army.
The government and army said earlier this year suspects accused of attacking army installations in countrywide protests in May in the wake of the brief arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan would be tried in military courts.
The announcement has faced widespread criticism from within Pakistan and rights organizations globally because of their secretive nature and their existence alongside a functioning civilian legal system.
The petitions, filed by political parties, lawyers, civil society activists and relatives of the accused, contend that the trials of civilians by military courts are unconstitutional and violate their fundamental rights.
Later, the National Assembly passed a resolution demanding that the rioters be tried under the Army Act, which allows for summary trials and executions. The army then said that 102 ‘miscreants’ were under investigation and would face military courts.
The Supreme Court had earlier assured the petitioners that no formal trial had commenced against the accused and that it would restrain the army from taking any unconstitutional step.
“The court would want to restrain the Pakistan Army from taking any unconstitutional step,” then Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial had observed when the case was last heard earlier this year.
He has since retired and been replaced by Chief Justice Isa, whose elevation garnered nationwide interest given his reputation as a maverick judge and his hard-hitting judgments criticizing the role of the country’s powerful military in politics.
On Thursday, CJ Isa had remarked, during another hearing, that the top court would be hearing important cases, such as on the trial of civilians by military courts and holding elections on time, in the coming weeks.
One of the petitioners recently filed an application claiming that he had been informed that the trial of his son had begun in violation of the court’s directions.
He urged the court to declare that the referral of his son’s trial to the military authorities was unlawful and to strike down the relevant provisions of the Army Act as ultra vires of the constitution.
Pakistan’s Army Act of 1952 established military courts primarily to try members of the military or enemies of the state. Civilians can only be tried there under a federal government order.
Civilians accused of offenses such as waging war against the armed forces or law enforcement agencies, or attacking military installations or inciting mutiny, can be tried at military courts.
Military courts operate under a separate system from the civilian legal system and are run by military officers. The judges are also military personnel and cases are tried at undisclosed locations with no public access or media coverage.
Anyone tried under the Army Act has the right to defend themselves and a counsel of their choice. There is no right to appeal but individuals can challenge the question of jurisdiction in high courts and the Supreme Court.
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