A six-member Supreme Court bench on Wednesday reserved its verdict on a set of intra-court appeals (ICAs) challenging its Oct 23 unanimous ruling, wherein it had nullified military trials of 103 civilians. In the widely praised ruling, a five-member SC bench — comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Ayesha Malik — had declared that trying 103 civilians in military courts for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the riots that followed ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 was ultra vires the Constitution. The apex court had declared that the accused would not be tried in military courts but in criminal courts of competent jurisdiction established under the ordinary or special law of the land. The appeals have been filed by the caretaker federal government as well as the provincial ones in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Meanwhile, Sindh has denied filing a purported plea on the same matter, which is not included among the petitions being taken up today. The defence ministry had also moved an ICA before the SC against its judgment, requesting the apex court to suspend the verdict’s operation during the pendency of the appeal. On Monday, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, who is a member of the three-judge committee constituted to fix cases before different benches, had objected to the bench, saying it should be “deemed as not set up by the committee”. Justice Ahsan recalled how during the fifth meeting of the committee, it was agreed that since the judgment in the trial of civilians by military courts had been rendered by a five-judge bench, a seven-judge bench should be constituted to hear the ICAs. Instead, a six-judge bench was formed, with Justice Sardar Tariq Masood as its head. “I categorically and in clear terms stated that in order to dispel any impression of pick and choose, all judges of this court in the order of seniority be included in the appellate bench,” he had stated in a letter to the committee’s secretary. Separately, former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S. Khawaja, who is one of the petitioners to challenge the military trials, has also objected to Justice Masood’s inclusion in the bench. He stated that Justice Masood, along with CJP Qazi Faez Isa, had recused from being a part of the nine-member bench hearing pleas against the military trials. Today, the Justice Masood-led bench — including Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan — took up 17 ICAs. During the hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan urged the court to conditionally allow the military trials of civilian suspects to be resumed.
Supreme Court reserves verdict on plea seeking stay on military court order
