For speedy trial: Eight cases transferred to military courts

The provincial government had originally sent a list of 74 cases to the centre for approval

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has given the green signal for the transfer of eight high-profile terrorism-related cases, which were pending in the anti-terrorism courts, to the newly established military courts.

According to a source in the judiciary, the Sindh High Court on Friday sent a letter to the additional chief secretary of the home department, intimating them that their request to transfer the cases was approved by the chief justice of Pakistan.

The cases transferred include five pending before the anti-terrorism courts and three before the sessions courts. The official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the SHC has also directed the trial courts’ judges to transfer the original files of the cases to the military courts after retaining attested copies of each page. The receipt of the files will have to be documented and acknowledged by the military courts.



Need for military courts

The military courts were established by the federal government under the National Action Plan, which was devised in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The idea behind the establishment of the military courts was to counter terrorism with renewed pledge to speedily try terrorists and punish them accordingly. Four of these cases were established in Karachi.

Subsequently, the provincial authorities had sent dozens of cases to the federal government for scrutiny and final approval for trial in military courts. Of the 74 cases referred, the latter sanctioned only eight.

The cases of accused Masoom Billa, Muhammad Mavia and Yasir Irfat, Muhammad Qasim Toori, Danish alias Talha, Abid Ali, Muhammad Asif alias Abdullah alias Hanzullah, Saadat Hussain and Yaseen alias Hakeem, who have all been shown as affiliated with the proscribed outfit, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, have been transferred. In some of these cases, the judicial magistrates have already recorded statements of the accused.



Masoom, Mavia and Yasir, along with their absconding accomplices, have been booked for their alleged involvement in a bomb attack on the motorcade of Justice Maqbool Baqar in June 2013 in Karachi. Justice Baqar was the then senior puisne judge of Sindh High Court and now a judge of the Supreme Court.

Qasim Toori, Danish and Abid, along with his absconding accomplices, have been charged with allegedly killing two policemen and injuring as many in January 2008 in a shootout with the police and other law enforcement agencies in Shah Latif Town. Four of their comrades were also killed in the encounter.

Meanwhile, Asif, Saadat and Yaseen have been booked for killing a couple in 2013 on sectarian grounds in New Karachi. Moreover, Asif and Saadat have also been charged for attempted murder and attack on police personnel. In addition to these, Asif was booked in one and Saadat in three illicit weapons cases after the crime investigation department of the police claimed to have arrested them after a shootout on Dec 20, 3013 and found unlicensed weapons in their possession. Besides, the main cases, the connected cases against Asif and Saadat will also be sent to the military courts.

Meanwhile, the SHC’s orders have been received by the relevant ATCs and sessions courts, which will likely dispatch the case files and properties next week. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2015.