SC to resume hearing pleas against military trials of civilians
The Supreme Court will resume hearing a set of pleas challenging the trial of civilians in the country’s military courts today.
A six-judge larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and consisting Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha A. Malik, will resume hearing the pleas at 11:30am.
On Monday, the federal government had taken a stand before the apex court and stated that the trial of those accused of violence against the armed forces under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 was an “apt and proportionate response” under the constitutional framework and statutory regime.
“Violence against the military, defence installations and establishments was a direct attack against the national security of Pakistan and therefore prejudicial to security, interests and defence of Pakistan,” the government said in a concise statement submitted to the apex court.
The government urged the court to dismiss all the petitions, adding that under Article 245 of the Constitution, the armed forces have been charged with the obligation to defend Pakistan against external aggression or the threat of war.
“Therefore, to create deterrence in respect of such attacks, our constitutional framework allows perpetrators of such vandalism and violence to be tried under PAA,” it said.
The episodes involving Shakeel Afridi (who allegedly helped CIA locate the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden) and Indian navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav were sufficient evidence to indicate that foreign powers were constantly working to destabilise the armed forces and weaken the national security, the government added.
At the previous hearing, Attorney-General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan had told the court that the cases against the detained civilians were still at the investigation stage, and also assured the bench that no accused would be charged with the commission of any offence that attracts either capital punishment or a lengthy sentence.
The pleas
The petitions were filed by former CJP Jawwad S. Khawaja, Aitzaz Ahsan, Karamat Ali, and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Khawaja, who filed the petition through his counsel Advocate Khawaja Ahmad, requested the top court to declare the trial of civilians by military courts unconstitutional.
The former CJP pleaded that Section 2(1)(d)(i) and (ii) of the Pakistan Army Act were inconsistent with the fundamental rights conferred by the Constitution and therefore void, and should be struck down.
As an interim measure, all proceedings against civilians based on the sections should be suspended or, in the alternative, any military court should be restrained from passing a final order in any case against civilians based on the sections, the petition stated.
Before this petition, five members of civil society from different cities, through their counsel Faisal Siddiqi, sought as illegal the trial of civilians in the military courts in connection with the violence in the country of May 9.
Likewise, Ahsan, who has also served as a former law minister and also spearheaded the 2007 lawyers’ movement, explained that the primary purpose of his petition was to ensure that none of the thousands of civilians who have admittedly been arrested for allegedly having partaken in the May 9 violence and being nominated for trial be tried by military courts.
The petitioner said he did not seek to scuttle the trial of any civilian before any lawfully established court of criminal jurisdiction.
In his petition, the PTI chairman sought a declaration against the arrests, investigation, and trial of civilians in peacetime under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 as well as the Official Secrets Act 1923.
More to follow