Safoora Goth carnage: Prosecutor general justifies transferring trial to military court

Judges ask the petitioners' lawyers to file rejoinder to the arguments made by the prosecutor

KARACHI: The Islamic State-inspired suspects involved in killing 45 members of the Ismaili community last year should be tried by the military court as they do not deserve any constitutional rights, said provincial authorities before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday.

Refuting the two petitions filed by families of the two suspects - Muhammad Naeem Sajid and Hussain Umer Siddiqui - facing trial for their involvement in the Safoora Goth attack, Sindh prosecutor general (PG) Shahadat Awan said the trial was rightly transferred from the anti-terrorism court to the military court.

"The trial has strictly been transferred according to law," he said while defending the decision. The suspect's family members, Ambreen Naeem and Hira Siddiqui, had challenged the interior ministry's decision of December 10, 2015 to transfer the trial from Karachi's anti-terrorism court (ATC)-VI to the military court established under provisions of the Protection of Pakistan Act (PPA).

Objecting to procedures adopted by federal and provincial authorities to transfer the trial, the petitioners argued that under Section 17(4) of PPA no case can be transferred to the military court without approval of the relevant trial court. They argued that such a transfer was illegal and without lawful authority, as no prior approval had been obtained from the ATC.

The petitioners said that such a trial will be against the law as well as in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the right to a fair trial. Therefore, they had pleaded to the high court to declare transfer of the Safoora Goth attack trial from the ATC to military court as illegal.

Concluding his arguments, PG Awan said there was no precedence in the country's history in which members of the most peaceful community, the Ismailis, were ever killed in such a way. "The innocent people have been murdered. Therefore, the case must be tried before the military court, as the proceedings have been transferred in accordance with the law," he added.

He pleaded the court to dismiss the petitions, which lacked any merits to make a case for hearing and passing the order.

The two-judges asked the petitioners' lawyers to file a rejoinder, if any, to the arguments made by the prosecutor general as well as those of the deputy attorney general made earlier. The hearing was adjourned till February 4.

'No constitutional rights'

Last week, Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali had also argued that the trial was shifted from the ATC to the military court 'in accordance with the law.'

He argued that the trial was shifted after the federal and provincial apex committees thoroughly examined the legal status and nature of the offence.

"The suspects are not ordinary citizens, but habitual criminals," said the police chief, adding, "Therefore, they are not entitled to any relief in view of constitutional rights," he said. He pleaded the court to reject the pleas of the two suspects' families.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd,  2016.