SC to hear petition against military courts on Jan 28

According to details, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Bar had filed a petition challenging the formation of military courts in the country.

The apex court today formed a three-member bench to hear the petition.

The bench will be headed by Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan, Justice Nasir ul Mulk, while the other two members will be Justice Musheer Alam and Justice Gulzar Ahmed.

The hearing of the case will be held on January 28.

Under the extreme pressure from almost all corners of the society, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led  government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had lately decided for the formation of military courts in order to cope with the decade-long terrorism scourge in the country.

Though a constitutional amendment was passed by the Parliament providing constitutional cover to the formation of military courts, the decision drew criticism to the government from the religio-political parties as well as the legal fraternity.

While hearing different cases, SC judges in their remarks had also criticized the decision and slammed the government for putting all the blame on judiciary.

They were of the view that the government failed to execute the convicts, despite the judiciary handed hundreds of culprits  death sentences.

The judges in their remarks had said, “Formation of military courts was not required. Special courts would not have judges more competent than the ones from the judiciary”.