Now that the military courts which had been set up under the National Action Plan in 2015 to try civilians on terrorism charges have ceased to function, we must ask ourselves where Pakistan’s legal system and its anti-terrorism strategy goes from here. They were revived for another two years after first expiring in March 2017.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) law and interior ministries have seemingly already prepared a draft law to give the courts a second extension. A meeting of parliamentary leaders had been planned to discuss the matter on March 28, but was cancelled when opposition parties decided to boycott the event for political reasons.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif had stated in January that he would consider supporting a second extension for military courts if the PTI approached the PML-N on the matter. He had spoken positively of the role played by these courts, saying that it was thanks to them that terrorism had been eradicated from the country. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Bilawal Bhutto however, had unequivocally stated in December 2018 that the PPP would not support another extension for military courts.
The political leadership of this country must consider what is in Pakistan’s best interest, a military-court system which keeps all official data about cases heard and tried under them hidden or a return to constitutional normalcy. It should also be pointed out that Pakistan no longer finds itself in the national security emergency it was in back in 2014. Furthermore, the PTI government came into power on a reforms based agenda, of which the legal system should also be a part. Furthermore, the present Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan is widely regarded as one of the best criminal law justices in the country, making the present an opportune time to reform criminal law to better handle terror-related cases.
Let’s not forget, in October 2018 the Peshawar High Court set aside the sentences of 74 persons convicted by a military court after concluding that the charges against the accused had not been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, showing that military courts can fail to meet the required legal standards of fairness and due process.
Pakistan’s war against terrorism has been hard and will continue for years. Regardless, the country must not allow itself to lose its constitutional framework in the course of this war. *