SC to hear pleas against military courts on Oct 23

The Supreme Court Friday fixed the case against the trial of civilians in military courts for hearing on October 23, which will be heard by a five-member bench headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Hassan, comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazhar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik.

The Supreme Court has issued notices to the parties regarding the hearing. It is pertinent to note that the previous hearing of the said case was held on August 03.

On Thursday, petitioner Junaid Razzaq, father of Arzam Junaid, who is in military custody, approached the apex court to expedite the hearing of the case, stating that the military court trials had already begun, and requested that the case be scheduled for the third week of October.

Arzam was admittedly arrested on May 15 and was transferred to the custody of commanding officer Lahore on May 25. Hence, a period of more than four months had lapsed since the transfer of his custody to the military authorities.

The petitioner claimed that this commencement of military court trials for civilians was a clear violation of the apex court’s order issued on August 3, 2023.

The above-mentioned case was last heard on August 3, by a six-judge bench, headed by former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

In the last hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan informed the court that the military’s top officials and the government are seriously considering providing appeal against the verdict of the military court (MC) to the level of high court.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) demanded that the concerned quarters and the authorities should honour their undertaking in the apex court and should halt immediately the process of conducting the trial of cases against civilians in the military courts.

The spokesman for PTI chief Shoaib Shaheen, in his letter to the AGP,reminded his commitments before the SC that there will be no trials of the persons in military custody.

“In reference to the court order dated 03.08.2023, I would like to inform and request that on 21.07.2023, Constitution Petition Nos. 24 to 28 & 30 of 2023 was fixed for hearing before the SC, wherein you after seeking instructions from the federal government made a statement before the top court that there will be no trials of the persons in military custody,” he added.

“In view of the above, you are hereby requested to inform the concerned quarters and the authorities to honor the undertaking and implement the order dated 03.08.2023 in its true letter and spirit and not to commence the trial as per undertaking and the order of SC,” Shaheen added.