• Rights of terror victims ‘largely overlooked’, Justice Afghan notes
• Military courts working under parliamentary sanction, observes Justice Aminuddin
• Country cannot have both normal and military courts trying civilians, Imran’s lawyer argues
ISLAMABAD: Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, a member of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench (CB), on Monday expressed concern over the trend of targeting military installations rather than police stations, political leaders or Governor House when a political party had grievances.
If this tendency is not curbed, it could push the country towards anarchy, feared Justice Rizvi and emphasised the need for stopping this propensity to prevent such incidents in future.
Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, the seven-judge CB had taken up intra-court appeals against the Oct 23, 2023, order of nullifying the trial of civilians by military courts in the May 9 violence case.
When Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail asked whether this could be accepted as a basis to approve every wrong, PTI founder Imran Khan’s lawyer Uzair Karamat Bhandari cited American psychologist Abraham Maslow’s quote: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail”.
Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan said law and order in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had deteriorated so much that it was affecting other provinces. In such circumstances discussions in courts often focused on the fundamental rights of those accused of terrorism, while the rights of victims were largely overlooked, Justice Afghan regretted, noting that present appeals were a case of first impression.
The observation came when senior counsel Bhandari urged the CB to seek guidance from what had been determined by the top court in earlier decisions like in cases of F.B. Ali, Sheikh Liaquat Hussain and District Bar Association. The principles drawn from these cases also applied to the present case since it was not possible to have a parallel judicial system — normal civilian courts and military courts trying civilians.
