Govt set to send 95 cases to military courts

COAS had earlier expressed concerns about the lack of cases transferred to military courts

ISLAMABAD: After Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had drawn the attention of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to slowing down of transfer of cases to military courts, the government is set to send 95 fresh terrorism-related cases to special courts for trial.

Gen Qamar had written a demi-official (DO) letter to explain the issue prior to it being referred officially, drawing the attention of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to the lack of terrorism-related cases being transferred to military courts.

He informed the prime minister that the government had not forwarded any cases to the military courts since January this year.

As per procedure, all cases require the federal government’s approval before transfer to the military courts. Hence, the defence ministry could not send these cases to the courts directly.



The government had to determine the age because in August last year, the Peshawar High Court suspended a death sentence awarded to Haider Ali by a military court.

The high court said since Ali was a juvenile, he could not be executed because the juvenile justice system ordinance prohibited trial of an underage suspect other than by a designated court.

Sources told The Express Tribune that a committee of the ministry of interior was constituted to examine and recommend the cases to the competent authority for trial and prosecution by the courts established under the Pakistan Army Act 1952.

The committee met on October 31 and again on November 1 in the interior ministry to examine 90 cases recommended by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and 10 cases recommended by Sindh.



Recently, the committee briefed the cabinet that it had thoroughly discussed each case and observed that 85 out of 90 cases forwarded by the K-P government and 10 cases of the Sindh government were covered under Section 2 of the Pakistan Army Act 1952.

Moreover, the committee also deferred four cases of the K-P government for further discussion whereas the case of an accused, who had died in custody, had been closed.

The cabinet granted approval to sending the cases to the military courts on a summary submitted by the interior division.