The Supreme Court on Monday was probing details of the military trials of civilians for their alleged involvement in the May 9 violence.
A six-judge bench – headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Azhar Hasan Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan – heard a number of Intra-Court Appeals (ICA) against its October 23 unanimous decision quashing military trials of civilians.
The case concerns the trial of 103 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the unrest that followed the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan on May 9 last year.
In a widely praised judgment last year, a five-judge SC bench – comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Ayesha Malik – unanimously declared that trying accused civilians in military courts was ultra vires the Constitution.
The Supreme Court declared that the accused would not be tried by military courts but by criminal courts of competent jurisdiction established under the general or special law of the land.
On December 13, in a 5:1 majority verdict, the supervisory board temporarily suspended its October 23 decision pending a final ruling as it heard the ICA line.
Appeals against the verdict were filed by the then caretaker federal government as well as the provincial governments of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Sindh denied filing a putative plea in the same matter and it was not included in the petitions that were initiated earlier. The Ministry of Defense also moved the ICA and asked the apex court to stay the verdict during the pendency of the appeal.
In January, Faisal Siddiqui filed on behalf of some of those challenging the lawsuits to prevent the federal and provincial governments from hiring private counsel to defend the case.
In the last hearing on January 29, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, who has since retired, referred the ICA back to a three-judge commission to constitute a larger bench.
On 19 March, former CJP Jawwad S. Khawaja, who is one of the petitioners challenging the military trials, asked the Supreme Court for an early hearing of the appeal, arguing that the continued presence of civilians in military custody was “beyond compensation”. “.
Khawaja Ahmed appeared before the court today as counsel for former CJP Khawaja, while Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan and KP Additional Advocate General (AAG) Syed Kausar Ali Shah were also present.
Salman Akram Raja and Faisal Siddiqui appeared as counsel for their clients challenging the trials while Aitzaz Ahsan, who was also one of the petitioners, was also present.
The KP government asked the court to withdraw its appeal against the October 23 verdict and submit a resolution passed by the provincial cabinet.
The SC directed AGP Awan to provide details of the sentences reserved by the military courts by March 28 and adjourned the hearing until then.
