SC holds judgement on appeals against civilians’ military trials

ISLAMABAD: On Wednesday, a six-member Supreme Court bench postponed making a decision on a series of intra-court appeals (ICAs) contesting the court’s unanimous decision from October 23 to annul the military trials of 103 civilians.

Judge Aminuddin Khan, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan make up the bench, which is led by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood.

On October 23, a five-person Supreme Court bench had earlier declared the military trials of 103 civilians to be invalid.

The federal government in transition, along with the provincial administrations of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, filed the intra-court appeals.

Because of the objections raised at the beginning of the hearing, Justice Masood declined to step down from the bench.

He advised the attorneys to review a prior ruling by former Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and stated that it was the judge’s choice to step down from the bench or not.

When Aitzaz Ahsan, one of the petitioners opposing the military trials, objected to the bench’s formation, Attorney Latif Khosa, his attorney, asked Justice Masood if he had received a notice as a respondent in the case.

The judge said, “We will see your objection when the respondents are notified.”

Khosa made it clear that he was objecting because the judge was in charge of the case at the time. In pleas filed by members of civil society, Faisal Siddiqui, the attorney, contended that the government is not permitted to hire a private attorney.

In response, AGP Awan stated that the services had complied with all legal requirements and asked the court to give priority hearings to the petitioners who had submitted the ICAs.

The Supreme Court could not, according to attorney Salman Akram Raja, “suspend the verdict nullifying the [military] trials without listening” to the attorneys’ initial arguments.

Khosa went on to say that if there are objections to the judges hearing the case, arguments are made.

Raja stated that the case would have been “affected” if they had objected after informing the respondents.

Justice Masood had previously expressed his thoughts on the matter in a prior note, according to Khosa, who went on to say that the judge would not recuse himself from hearing the appeals.

AGP Awan questioned how the objections could be considered in this case since the notices on the ICAs had not yet been sent out. He went on, “The person who raised the objection is not here in court.”

He requested that the SC start hearing arguments on the appeals first, and the court granted his request.

Read More: Judge Ahsan is informed by CJP that special benches aren’t created for specific cases

The judge again declared he was not refusing when Aitzaz Ahsan approached the rostrum and asked the court to rule on the objections made regarding Justice Masood’s inclusion first.

The attorney for the Shuhada Forum was then informed by Justice Mazhar that an elaborate order would need to be issued before he could amend the appeal.

The AGP stated that he would like to give defence ministry counsel Khawaja Haris the opportunity to present his case before Justice Masood orders him to start.