——- Hearing petitions against the matter, CJP remarks Army Act applies to civilians
——- 102 suspects are in Army’s custody, AGP informs Supreme Court
——- Top Judge says Army can request ATC for custody of civilians
——- CJP vows SC will try to issue a verdict by June 27
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial remarked on Friday that Pakistan Army Act applied to civilians.
A seven-member bench — comprising CJP Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Jus-tice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Ayesha Malik, and Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi, was hearing a set of petitions trials of civilians in military courts.
The government had decided to try civilians under army laws after enraged protesters belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vandalised army installations following the arrest of their party chief.
The petitions, separately filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja, legal expert Aitzaz Ahsan, and five civil society members including Piler Executive Director Karamat Ali, have requested the apex court to declare the military trials unconstitutional.
During the hearing, CJP Bandial, while citing Justice Shah, said that the army is directly affected related to the matters like national security. “Provoking serving army officer for conspiracy against national security was a serious crime,” CJP re-marked, adding that reviewing Army Act clauses was not needed. “It wasn’t correct to say that the civilians cannot be tried in the military courts ever. A civilian is tried in the military court if he incites the army for treason.”
It needs to be seen what method was adopted to bring civilians under the jurisdiction of military courts, and on which basis the anti-terrorism court (ATC) sent the cases to the military courts, he add-ed.
During the hearing, CJP Bandial remarked that the army can request the anti-terrorism courts to get the custody of civilians for their trial under military laws.
“It’s common sense that crimes under the Official Secrets Act are to be determined by the army itself and it can request anti-terrorism courts seeking the custody of civilians for trials under army laws,” the chief justice remarked.
However, he noted that there was no solid reasoning provided by the military.
“We will ask this from Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan.”
At this point, the hearing was adjourned for 15 minutes.
When the hearing resumed, lawyer Siddiqi maintained that the civilian cannot go to the military courts.
“Civilians’ trial is conducted in the civil courts or can be conducted in the military courts in case of ex-tremely extraordinary circumstances,” he added.
He went on to say that a thorough inquiry should be held before charging the civilians. There is a legal option to try the May 9 suspects in other courts, he added.
Justice Ayesha then asked the lawyer to tell the “extraordinary circumstances” under which the civil-ians can be tried in military courts. She also wondered if the military courts can try the civilians under Official Secret Act within a certain limit.
Justice Ayesha said that the issue here was whether the civilians’ crimes fall under the Official Secret Act.
At this, Siddiqi informed the court that the offences defined in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) are totally different.
Presenting his arguments after the resumption of the hearing, AGP Awan maintained that three ques-tions had been asked to him in yesterday’s verdict.
He informed the court that no suspect was in Islamabad police custody but four people are in KP police custody. He said that about 172 people were in judicial custody in Sindh while 70 people have been granted bail.
“As many as 117 people are in custody under 3 MPOs in Sindh, 102 in military custody. No woman, journalist or lawyer is in military custody,” he told the court.
The CJP inquired if there is any policy for journalists and lawyers. At this, the AGP replied that the fed-eral government’s stance is clear that no journalist or lawyer will be arrested in connection with the May 9 events.
“Identification parade is being conducted, if someone isn’t involved in the events, then they will not be arrested.”
When asked how many children were arrested, AGP Awan replied that no child is in military custody. “However, one child is in military custody in KP and his age is being ascertained. If he is under 18 then he will be released.”
At this, CJP Bandial directed the AGP to contact the caretaker governments and take their stance re-garding lawyers and journalists.
The court then postponed the hearing of the petitions on June 26 (Monday) till 9:30am.
The CJP further said that the hearing will resume from advocate Salman Akram Raja’s arguments, add-ing that the court will try to issue a verdict on this case by Tuesday (June 27).
