Pakistan SC rejects govt plea to let military courts issue verdicts on completed trials of civilians

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea by the government to let the military courts issue verdicts on completed trials of civilians allegedly involved in the riots of May 9 last year.

The case is related to the trials of 103 civilians who were handed to the military over alleged involvement in the attacks on army installations when supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party took to the streets following his arrest.

A seven-member constitutional bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, dismissed Additional Attorney General Aamer Rehman’s plea to allow military courts to pronounce verdicts in cases in which the suspects’ trial had been completed.

It also rejected the request of Jawwad S Khawaja, who was one of the petitioners challenging the military trials, to not resume hearing the intra-court appeals (ICAs) until petitions challenging the 26th Amendment were decided. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him.

The controversy over military trials of civilians started last year when at least 103 civilians were handed over to military authorities for trials following allegations that they had attacked military facilities during the protest.

Their trial was challenged in the Supreme Court and on October 23 last year, a five-member bench unanimously ruled against the trial of civilians in military courts.

But a set of intra-court appeals were filed against the ruling and a different bench of the court on December 13 last year suspended the ruling by a 5-1 majority verdict until final judgment.

On March 27 this year, the court modified its December 13 injunction, ordering that military courts could commence trials but they would not convict or acquit any suspect until the pendency of government-instituted ICAs.

Later a list of 20 individuals was presented before the court stating that the military courts were allowed to resume trial and therefore hand down sentences in cases of lesser punishments.

It said 20 persons were awarded sentences of one year of which 17 served 10.5 months and three persons served 9.5 months.

With the latest ruling, the court again rejected the plea to allow the announcement of verdicts, which showed that the authorities would have to wait until the final adjudication of the matter.