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The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday sought the record of all those arrested in the country post-May 9 as Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial said the top court would “quickly” wrap up the pleas against the trial of civilians in military courts, refusing to stay the trials.
Earlier, a nine-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Justice Ayesha A Malik heard the petitions today.
However, once the hearing commenced, Justice Isa said that he was surprised to see his name on the cause list for this hearing at 8pm on Wednesday.
The hearing was subsequently adjourned after all the judges left the courtroom. However, CJP Bandial decided to move forward with hearing the case and formed a fresh seven-member bench, excluding justices Isa and Masood.
The petitions in question were filed by former CJP Jawwad S. Khawaja, Aitzaz Ahsan, Karamat Ali, and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
The chief justice asked the government, through the attorney general, to provide details of all those individuals, including women and juveniles, who were detained by civilian and military authorities following the riots of May 9.
“We want details as to how many individuals, including women and juveniles, are detained by civilians and military authorities”.
Justice Bandial further said that lawyers should not be harassed and arrested journalists should be freed.
The chief justice further noted that there are several objections to military courts, which include no public hearing, no representation of counsel, no concept of independence of the judiciary and lack of a location for court premises.
