Canada Global(Web news)The Supreme Court declared the trial of civilians in military courts as illegal and ordered all the accused of May 9 to be tried in ordinary courts.
According to Express News, the Supreme Court today heard the petitions of the civilians against the trial in the military courts, in which the court reserved the decision and pronounced it some time ago.
The verdict was delivered by a five-member larger bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, which included Justice Mazahir Naqvi, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi. The Supreme Court delivered the decision by a four-to-one majority, allowing petitions against the trial of civilians in military courts.
In its decision, the court declared Section Two-D-One of the Military Act unconstitutional and ordered all the accused to be tried by ordinary courts. The court decided that depending on the nature of the crime of the accused, the cases should be tried in ordinary courts. The court also declared Section 59(4) of the Official Secrets Act unconstitutional.
The court dismissed 9 miscellaneous petitions on grounds of withdrawal. A 5-member larger bench headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan heard the case. Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahir Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik were included in the bench.
Jawad S. Khawaja’s lawyer Ahmed Hussain appeared at the beginning of the hearing. He said that I would like to read the order of the previous hearing.
The head of the bench, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, said that in the last hearing, the Attorney General was on the rostrum, so let the Attorney General finish his arguments first. Lawyer former Chief Justice Jawad Khawaja said that I want to read the order of August 3 in front of the court, on which Justice Ejazul Hasan said that we have read that order.
Justice Ejaz-ul-Hassan, talking to the Attorney General, said that Mr. Attorney General, you should give the final arguments, then we will see how to proceed with the court proceedings.
Lawyer Salman Akram Raja said that military courts have started the trial of civilians despite giving assurances in the court, to which Justice Ejaz-ul-Ahsan said that we are aware of this, we will listen to the Attorney General first
The Attorney General argued that I will give a summary of the previous hearing and I will explain why constitutional amendment was not necessary for the present trial, I will also discuss Article 175, I will also read the paragraph of Liaquat Hussain case, 21 I will also give arguments in the light of the decision of the 1st Constitutional Amendment and I will also answer the question whether the status of the accused is obtained after the indictment.
The Attorney General assured the court that the May 9 accused will be tried in military courts in the same manner as civil courts, evidence will be recorded and detailed reasons will also be written in the decision.
