SC registrar returns contempt plea against defence secy

The Supreme Court’s Registrar Office has refused to entertain a contempt petition filed by civil society members against the defence secretary for “deliberately and malafidely” violating the top court’s Oct 23 judgment wherein trial of civilians in military courts was declared unconstitutional.

The office has returned the contempt petition with objections. It is stated that operation of judgement has already been suspended, therefore, contempt petition is not maintainable. In a nine-page document, the civil society members, through their counsel Faisal Siddiqi, argued that civilians arrested in connection with the May 9 and 10 riots should be tried under criminal courts, ending their illegal detention under military authorities.

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The petition maintained that the court has been “disobeyed” by the “alleged contemnor” for violating its previous ruling “passed in constitutional petition Nos 24 to 28, 30, and 35 of 2023". It states that Secretary of Defence Lt Gen (retd) Hamooduz Zaman Khan “deliberately” violated an order passed in October declaring military trials of civilians under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, "unconstitutional".

Moreover, the petition highlighted that the arrested accused have been under “unconstitutional detention” for the last 43 days. The civil society members also stated that the violator had failed to issue an order for the transfer of custody of the accused persons to the criminal court.

The petition put forth the demand to end the continuing detention with military authorities as "unconstitutional", terming it a clear violation of court orders. The petition requested immediate compliance with the previous order to uphold the “majesty of law", as stated.

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A five-judge bench of the apex court on Oct 23 unanimously declared the trial of civilians in military courts as null and void and ordered that the 103 accused in cases relating to the violence on May 9 and 10, 2023 be tried under ordinary criminal laws.

The court through the 4-1 majority also declared certain clauses of the Army Act as ultra vires the Constitution and of no legal effect. One judge of the bench, reserved his verdict on one para, though siding with the bench on the remaining paras.

The bench led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahir Naqvi, and Justice Ayesha Malik heard the petitions that had challenged the trial of civilians allegedly involved in the May 9 violence in the military courts.

The petitions were filed by then Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan; chief justice (retd) Jawwad S Khawaja; the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA); Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan; Karamat Ali; Zaman Khan Vardag; Junaid Razzaq; Hafeezullah Niazi; Lt Col (retd) Inamul Rahiem and Naeemuddin Qureshi.