PHC orders immediate release of military court convicts

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday ordered immediate release of military court convicts, saying that they were not given fair trial or chance to defend themselves and were convicted on over confessional statements.

A two-member bench, comprising of Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth and Justice Muhammad Naeem Anwar, issued a 426-pages detailed judgment on the appeals of the convicts. The court allowed their release if they were not involved in any other case.

The judgment said that the convicted persons were neither allowed to meet their relatives nor given a chance to defend themselves. It also pointed out that there was no direct first information reports (FIRs) or complaint registered and no investigation was carried out to prove allegations against them.

The judgment added that the convicts were not given the right to file appeal on their own. Hence, the judgement described the entire proceedings against them as violation of relevant laws and the human rights.

In majority of the cases, the judgment said, they were arrested and kept in detention centres for months and years. The court maintained that the appellants were kept in isolation during custody and were not allowed to meet their relatives nor were they given a chance to defend themselves.

In 196 cases, according to the ruling, the government and the relevant institutions provided records to the court in 18 months, while no record could still be presented in more than 150 appeals. The court declared that advocate general sought adjournment, adding that seeking repeated adjournments had become a habit of the government.

The court declared that the cases against the convicts appeared to be registered with ill-intentions, since there was no evidence against them, hence, the orders for their release from the detention centres had been issued.