The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday constituted a nine-member bench headed by CJP Umar Ata Bandial to hear cases against civilians’ trails in military courts.
The bench comprises Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahar Naqvi, and Justice Ayesha Malik.
Earlier, prominent lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, Justice Jawad S Khawaja, and others had approached the apex court in this regard through their lawyers.
Mr Ahsan’s plea requested court to render civilians’ trail in military courts “unconstitutional”, annul sections 2 and 59 of the Army Act, and declare section 94 and rules “unconstitutional”. Moreover, the petitioners also pleaded court to annul ATC’s decisions of handing over civilians to army courts, and order release of civilians detained under army laws.
“The petitioner has no personal interest in this case and the relief sought is for the benefit of all citizens regardless of political affiliation,” Justice (retd) Khawaja said in the petition, submitted through his counsel Khawaja Ahmad Hosain.
