Military court trials: New 7-member SC bench adjourns hearing

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday adjourned the hearing of pleas challenging the trial of civilians in military courts till tomorrow (Friday), ARY News reported.

A newly-constituted seven-member bench conducted a hearing on pleas challenging the trial of civilians in military courts after a nine-member bench was dissolved following objections raised by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood,

The nine-member bench had included Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Isa, Justice Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Ayesha Malik, and Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi.

The hearing

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Qazi Faez said he was surprised after seeing his name in the cause list last night. The senior-most judge after CJP remarked the SC Practices and Procedure Bill was suspended by an eight-member bench of the apex court even before letting it become law.

“I am not a part of the bench hearing the [case related to] Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill so I will not make any remark about it,” the senior-most SC judge said.

Read more: CJP constitutes bench to hear petitions against military courts

The judgment passed by my bench on March 5 was ‘scrapped’ through a circular released by the SC registrar, Justice Qazi Faez Isa said.

He questioned if this was the importance of a decision made by the apex court.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa said he cannot remain part of the bench as he does not consider it a ‘bench’. I will not be part of any bench until the decision is reached on the Supreme Court Practices and Procedure Bill, he added.

“I’m leaving this bench.”

The CJP then formed a new bench after excluding Justice Isa and Justice Masood.

When the hearing resumed at 1:30pm, Justice Shah informed the court that he was a relative of petitioner Khawaja and that if anyone had reservations about his inclusion in the bench, he would recuse himself.

At this, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Awan said he had no reservations against his inclusion in the bench.

Khosa started his arguments by saying that Article 245 was imposed in the country.

At this, Justice Shah remarked that the federal government had issued orders for the revocation of the notification.

When CJP asked whether civilians were being tried in military courts, the lawyer responded: “Yes, military trials of civilians is underway.”

The hearing was subsequently adjourned till 9:30am tomorrow (Friday). The court also sought arguments from Faisal Siddiqi tomorrow.

The pleas

The petitions against military courts were filed by former CJP Jawwad S. Khawaja, Aitzaz Ahsan, Karamat Ali, and PTI Chairman.

Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S Khawaja challenged the trial of civilians in military courts in the Supreme Court (SC), demanding to declare the move ‘unconstitutional’.

The petition named the Federation of Pakistan through secretaries of law and justice, interior, defence, and chief secretaries of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan as respondents in the case.

CJP Jawwad Khawaja, in his plea, maintained that the trial of civilians by military courts in the presence of civilian ones is unconstitutional. The plea contended that proceedings of a court martial were only appropriate and lawful in the case of army officers.

The plea demanded to declare “any proceedings against civilians on the basis of the impugned sections unlawful”. It prayed the court should direct that such civilians be transferred to the competent civilian authorities for appropriate proceedings before ordinary criminal courts.

The petition came after Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan filed a similar petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the trials of civilians in military courts.