Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S Khawaja on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the trial of civilians in military courts and demanded that it should be declared “unconstitutional”.
The petition, filed through Advocate Muhammad Ozair Chughtai, sought to declare that “sections 2(1)(d)(i) and (ii) of the Pakistan Army Act 1952 are inconsistent with the fundamental rights conferred by the Constitution and are void and struck down”.
The Federation of Pakistan was cited as a respondent in the plea, along with the chief secretaries of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan, as well as the secretaries of law and justice, the interior, and the defence.
How “civilians who are not in active service can be subjected to trial by military courts for alleged crimes” was questioned.
“The petitioner submits that they cannot. To the extent that such trial is contemplated by law, such law is unconstitutional and liable to be struck down.”
The plea maintained that the challenge through the application was restricted to those provisions of the law that enabled civilians, who were not on active service, to be court-martialled.
The petition came after Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan filed a similar petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the trials of civilians in military courts.
Aitzaz Ahsan has petitioned to the apex court to declare the federal government’s decision to conduct trials in military court as null and void.
“The federal government has rubber stamped the corps commanders’ decision of conducting trials in the military court,” text of the petition read.
Earlier this month, a Peshawar High Court judge had remarked that there is a need to interpret the Constitution in the military court trials of cases of those civilians accused of attacking sensitive installations.
A division bench of the PHC comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah was hearing the petitions filed against trials of civilians in military courts.
“These cases require interpretation of the Constitution,” Justice Ibrahim remarked.
He further noted that under the army’s Official Secrets Act, a court-martial is held.
“How can cases of civilians be tried under the Official Secrets Act,” Justice Ibrahim questioned.
