As the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on Tuesday took up the hearing on the appeals against the decision to try civilians in military courts, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail said that executives cannot play the role of the judiciary.
On December 13, the SC’s constitutional bench conditionally allowed military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts of 85 civilians who were still in custody for their alleged involvement in the May 9 riots in 2023.
On Dec 21, military courts sentenced 25 civilians to prison terms ranging from two to 10 years for their involvement in violent attacks on military installations during the May 9 riots. A week later, another 60 civilians were handed jail terms ranging from two to 10 years for their involvement in the nationwide riots.
On January 2, the mercy petitions of 19 convicts involved in the May 9 cases were accepted on humanitarian grounds.
Yesterday, senior bar leader Senator Hamid Khan said lawyers shared a unanimous opinion against trials of civilians by military courts, calling the sentences “unconstitutional”.
Tuesday’s hearing was taken up by the constitutional bench headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, who remarked that the bench would only hear military court cases.
During the hearing, Advocate Khawaja Haris appeared as the defence ministry’s lawyer.
“In the past, the Supreme Court had declared that civilians can be court-martialed under military courts,” Haris said.
