A seven-member bench from the Supreme Court in Pakistan, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, raned on Tuesday the hearing on the appeals filed against the military legal attempts for civilians after the violence on May 9.
During the hearing, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail asked the meaning of the trial jurisdiction and said, “What difference does it make, whether the trial happens here or there?”
Attorney Faisal Siddiqi, who represents civil society’s petitions, argued that there is a sharp difference between civilian and military litigation in which he said, “One trial is independent, the other is in the military.” He informed the court that out of 105 suspects had been released, while 66 remained in custody.
The extra court lawyer confirmed the numbers and added that 19 more suspects were recently released.
The petitioners claim that trying civilians in military courts violates constitutional guarantees of a fair trial.
The hearing was postponed until tomorrow.
Earlier, Justice Mandokhail said Wednesday that all five judges in the Supreme Court were unanimous in their decision that civilians cannot be corrected in military courts.
He made these comments during last week’s hearing of an intra-cart appeal that challenged the lawsuit against civilians in military courts. Justice Mandokhail is part of a seven-member constitutional bench that oversees the appeal, which also includes Justice’s Amin-out-Din Khan, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musarat Hilali, Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Shahid Bilal Hassan.
During the case, lawyer Faisal Siddiqui claimed that there had been three separate decisions from a five-member bench regarding military courts.
He pointed out that Justice’s Ayesha Malik, Muneeb Akhtar and Yahya Afridi had written individual decisions, but all judges agreed on core observations. Siddiqui emphasized that when the judges’ decisions are in line, but their reasoning differs, all the reasons are considered part of the overall decision.
However, he maintained that all justice agreed on the central question that civilians should not be corrected under military jurisdiction.
