SC to take up ICAs against military trials on 29th

A Supreme Court six-judge bench, headed by Justice Sardar Masood, will take up on January 29 the intra-court appeals (ICAs) against declaring the military trying civilians as unconstitutional.

The other members of the bench include Justices Aminuddin Khan, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Musarat Hilali and Irfan Saadat Khan.

In its first hearing of the matter, the bench had conditionally suspended its prior decision to invalidate military trials for 103 civilians till a final judgment on the matter.

The SC stated that the ongoing military trials of the civilians, accused of involvement in attacks on army installations during the unrest following the arrest of former premier Imran Khan on May 9 last year, would carry on for now but the final decision would be subject to its final ruling.

The majority 5-1 verdict stemmed from a series of ICAs filed by the caretaker federal government and the interim provincial governments of Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa challenging the previous unanimous ruling nullifying the military trials.

Similarly, a five-member larger bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah will hear the review appeal on January 29 against the decision of declaring the ruling of former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri as unconstitutional.

The other judges on the bench include Justices Munib Akhtar, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Athar Minallah.

It should be noted that the SC declared the Suri’s ruling to stop the no-confidence motion against former premier Imran as unconstitutional.

However, in the detailed verdict, a judge was of the view that action should be taken against Suri for violating the Constitution.

Likewise, the federal government's ICA against the Afiya Shehrbano Zia case verdict has also been scheduled for hearing.

A five-judge larger bench headed by Justice Aminuddin will hear the matter on January 31.

The bench includes Justices Mandokhail, Rizvi, Hilali and Irfan Saadat.

A civil society activist, Afiya Shehrbano Zia, had filed a complaint against former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar under Article 209 of the Constitution -- that deals with misconduct by superior judiciary -- over alleged breach of the judges’ code of conduct.

However, a division bench of the SC, comprising former judge Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib, on June 27, 2023 set aside the complaint, declaring that judges who retire or resign do not fall within the ambit of Article 209.

In the open proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council against former judge Mazahar Ali Naqvi, the attorney general said the federal government would file an ICA against the verdict in the Afiya Shehrbano Zia case.

An important aspect of the appeal is that if the SC decided that action could be taken against a retired or resigned judge, it would jeopardise the pension and other privileges of many of them.