Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday conditionally allowed military courts to only announce verdicts of those May 9 suspects who could be released before the upcoming Eid festival. The case is about the trial of 103 civilians for their alleged involvement in the attacks on army installations during the riots that erupted after the arrest of former premier Imran Khan.
A six-member bench of Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Azhar Hasan Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan heard a set of intra-court appeals (ICAs) against its Oct 23, 2023 unanimous ruling nullifying the military trials of civilians.
A five-member SC bench comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Ayesha Malik had unanimously declared that trying the accused civilians in military courts was against the Constitution of the country. The bench also ruled they should be tried in civilian criminal courts.
A set of ICAs followed and the court on December 13 last year suspended the verdict by a 5-1 majority till the adjudication of the appeals. The appeals were filed by the then-caretaker federal government and provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab as well as by the defence ministry.
During the last hearing on March 25, the court asked authorities to provide details about the military trials of civilians for their alleged involvement in the violent events. It ordered that it be informed about “how many suspects could be acquitted and how many could not be”, adding that all details be submitted by March 28.
It also sought information on the suspects who were to be sentenced for shorter periods. “The stay order on the military courts’ case will be amended according to the summary,” it noted.
During today’s hearing, the court after hearing arguments gave conditional permission to military courts to announce the reserved verdicts. “Only verdict in those cases be announced in which the nominated suspects could be released before Eid,” the court ruled. The attorney general also informed the court that about 20 suspects may be released after completion of their trial and other formalities, including concession in the sentence by the army chief.
The court noted the assurances by Awan that those with lesser sentences would be given legal concessions. The court further said that permission to decide further appeals would be subject to the final decision on the appeals against the Oct 23 ruling. The court also directed the attorney general to submit a report on the issue to the registrar and adjourned the hearing until the last week of April. Hundreds of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers and leaders were arrested after the riot but only those allegedly involved in attacks on army installations were selected for trial by the military courts.
