SC moved for early hearing of military courts case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday moved for the early hearing of military courts case, ARY News reported.

As per details, the petition, filed by Advocate Latif Khosa, requested the top court that the cases be fixed for hearing within the next week, starting from July 1.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed that the cases be fixed for hearing in the third week of January 2024, but despite this, the cases have not been heard yet.

The petition argues that the delay in hearing the cases has resulted in 103 under-trial prisoners being denied justice.

The cases have been pending since December 13, and the petition urges the Supreme Court to expedite the hearing to ensure justice for the accused.

Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) accepted pleas seeking the formation of a larger bench to hear appeals against the annulment of trials of civilians in military courts.

A six-member bench headed by Justice Aminuddin heard the appeals against the annulment of trials of civilians in military courts. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Musrrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan are also part of the bench.

Read more: Military courts granted conditional authority to announce reserved verdicts

In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had asked the attorney-general for the details of the accused sentenced to three years in jail by military courts.

The court ordered the release of 20 accused who were sentenced to one year jail before Eid. The details of the accused released on Eid were submitted to the Supreme Court.

Military trials

In the month of May, the government decided to try the suspects accused of attacking military installations on May 9 under army laws.

Violent clashes broke out across Pakistan after the former prime minister was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 9.

Army installations, the Corps Commander’s house in Lahore and General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi came under attack during a protest by PTI workers.

Pleas

Following the arrests made in connection with the violent riots that erupted across the country on May 9, the government announced its decision to hold military court trials of those found guilty of damaging and attacking military instalments — a move both the government and the army considered a low blow.

In light of this decision, PTI founder Imran Khan, former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja, legal expert Aitzaz Ahsan, and five civil society members, including Piler Executive Director Karamat Ali, requested the apex court to declare the military trials “unconstitutional”.