July 8, 2024
By Bilal Baseer Abbasi
ISLAMABAD
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday, July 8, issued directives to the Attorney General of Pakistan to address complaints of civilians currently under trial in military courts not being able to meet their families. The court then adjourned the hearing of the appeal against military trials of civilians until Thursday, July 11.
The seven-member bench, lead by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, accepted the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s request to become a party to the case.
Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa, who is representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said that trying civilians in military courts is an affront to their fundamental rights.
“To even call them courts is insulting because military men do not have [legal] training, [military court verdicts] cannot be appealed in independent courts nor are they within the jurisdiction of the courts,” he said. “They are subject to Article 175, which is against parallel judicial systems.”
Khosa and Salman Akram Raja, PTI’s counsels in the case, informed the court that the families of accused civilians were not allowed to meet for five weeks. Khosa also described the condition of the civilian accused under trial in military courts, alleging that they are presented in chains and hoods to anyone given permission to meet them. The meetings themselves are presided over by military personnel.
“What kind of meeting are these, anyway? They are humiliating, they are the pinnacle of oppression,” Khosa told Voicepk.
PTI leader and former member of the National Assembly Seemabia Tahir held that the country is in crisis, and therefore egos should be set aside.
“The judiciary should take a stand the way our six judges [of the Islamabad High Court] took a stand because the whole nation is looking towards them,” she said, expressing hope in a positive decision from the bench.
Khosa accused the government of deliberately prolonging the case. “Their families are suffering; it is the height of oppression,” he said, adding: “This case needs to be heard every day for the sake of these people, but the appeal is not even admissible.”