Military court sentence: PHC defers execution of another militant

Javed Khan was charged with killing three soldiers and suffocating a ‘hawaldar’ to death

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court deferred on Thursday the execution of an alleged militant who was sentenced to death by a military court till December 1. The court directed the authorities concerned to provide complete record of the case by next hearing.

The ruling was issued by a division bench, comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Lal Jan Khattak, while hearing a writ petition filed by Robina Javed, the wife of the convict Javed Khan through her lawyer Sahibzada Asadullah.

Asadullah argued that security forces had picked up the petitioner’s husband on December 4, 2011.

According to him, a writ was filed in the Peshawar High Court as soon as the man was arrested and the court ordered the SHO concerned to conduct an inquiry and submit a report.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that during the course of inquiry, law-enforcement agencies denied that the suspect was in their custody.

“But on October 8 this year, family members came to know through the media that Khan had been sentenced to death by a military court and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) approved his execution,” he argued.

Quoting an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release, he argued that Khan was charged with killing three soldiers and suffocating a ‘hawaldar’ to death. He stated that the charges were not based on facts and the man was not given an opportunity to defend himself.

He requested the court to suspend his execution. The bench accepted the request and stopped the execution.

On Wednesday, the PHC stayed the execution of four alleged terrorists who had also been awarded death sentence by a military court.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Lal Jan Khattak, suspended the death sentence and issued a notice to the federal government to submit record of the cases before the next hearing.

The petitioners’ attorneys claimed that the security agencies had arrested the convicts three years ago and since then, their whereabouts were unknown.

They contended that their family members came to know through media reports about the death sentences of the four convicts by a military court while the COAS confirmed their sentences on November 7 this year.

The lawyers cited a Supreme Court judgment, in which the apex court upheld the creation of military courts and ruled that judgments of the military courts were subject to judicial review.

The lawyers pointed out that the convicts were not given a fair chance to defend themselves thus their execution should be stopped.

On November 7 this year, the COAS confirmed the death sentences of nine alleged terrorists who according to ISPR were involved in attacking members of the armed forces.

The convicts included Zahid Khan, Umar Saeed, Rahmat and Bakht Wali – residents of Khyber Agency who were reportedly members of the Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-i-Islam and the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2016.