Institutions: ‘Military courts amount to mini martial law’

Ishtiaq says the bar will move ICJ against caricatures.

LAHORE: Lahore Bar Association (LBA) president Chaudhry Ishtiaq A Khan on Sunday opposed military courts saying that setting up of such courts amounted to imposing a ‘mini martial law’ in the country.

The LBA and the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) would hold press conferences on Monday (today) against the establishment of military courts and publishing of blasphemous caricatures in a French magazine, Khan said.



The LBA members The Express Tribune spoke to said the military leadership apparently believed that civil courts had failed to execute terrorists. They said the impression was wrong as the courts had issued verdicts; implementing them was an executive function.

Khan said setting up military courts not eradicate terrorism from the country. “Establishing such courts is like handing a pen to military officials and a gun to judges.”

He said Lahore High Court had issued a verdict in 2012 directing the government to take steps, in consultation with the authorities concerned, to prevent blasphemous publications.

Khan said the LBA would file a contempt of court petition against the government. “We will take the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2015.