By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A lawyer and retired army colonel filed a petition in Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, seeking to annul the military trials, convictions, and sentences of 29 civilians during the tenure of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The petition, which has not been scheduled for hearing yet, argued that the trials of civilians under army laws were unconstitutional and violated their fundamental rights.
It named Khan, ex-army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, former spy chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, and other officials as respondents.
The petition, filed by highly reputed lawyer and ex-army man Inamur Rahim, said Khan had himself questioned the legality of military trials of civilians in a previous case, but ordered the trials of 29 civilians under the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act as prime minister with the backing of Bajwa and Hameed.
It accused them of committing “illegal acts and offences” for which they should be held accountable.
“The said trials were in violation of the fundamental rights as embodied in Chapter I of Part II of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, and thus, are a matter of public importance,” the petition said.
The civilians, who were tried under the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act, included human rights activists, journalists, and retired military officers.
They were alleged espionage or anti-state activities.
Most of them were denied access to their families or lawyers during their detention and trial, the petition said.
It said the families of the civilians, who were tried in an unprecedented manner, were not even informed about their arrests or whereabouts.
Only five were allowed to have their own counsel, citing international pressure in some cases. The petition called the trials “a matter of grave public importance” and sought their annulment.
The petition also cited the case of Hassan Askari, a former army engineer who had spoken out against Khan’s decision to extend Bajwa’s tenure.
Askari was sentenced to five years in prison by a military court in August 2021 and later moved to a high-security cell. Askari was recently released by the current government on remission.
The petition said most of the other civilians were kept in the dark about their trials and convictions until they were sent to jail.
They were not allowed to hire their own lawyers, present their own witnesses, or access their trial records, it said.
It added that their appeals were also rejected by the military courts without any reasons or judgments.
The petition accused Khan of violating the constitutional rights of the civilians and ignoring the court orders to produce missing persons.
It said that Khan, who had once challenged military trials of civilians in court, was now pretending to be a champion of the rule of law and real change.
It called his tenure as prime minister “the darkest era” for human rights violations after General Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorship.
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