Islamabad: Pakistan’s parliamentary leaders yesterday agreed to reinstate the military courts that ceased to function on January 7.
At a meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, most parties represented in parliament endorsed a proposal to reinstate around a dozen military courts for another two years, through a constitutional amendment.
But the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stayed out of the negotiations and has called a multiparty conference of its own on March 4 after which its stand on the issue would be finally spelt out.
Wave of strikes
Special military courts are viewed as an effective deterrent in the ongoing fight to eliminate terrorism, amid intensified operations by the military and civilian law enforcement agencies across the country following a wave of militant strikes that have claimed more than one hundred lives.
During the two years they remained functional, the tribunals had tried more than 240 cases and awarded the death penalty in 161. The military top brass has also backed revival of the tribunals.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shah Mahmoud Qureshi said those present at the meeting had agreed on a two-year extension for military courts.
Dar expressed hope that the PPP would support the decision after their conference, ahead of the forthcoming March 6 session of the parliament to take up the proposed amending bill.
Qureshi said the reinstatement of the special military courts was “the need of the hour.”
He said a parliamentary committee would be formed to oversee the process of the extension and later it would meet once a month.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Farooq Sattar said no steps had been taken to better the performance of the normal antiterrorism courts.
Former interior minister and Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Sherpao hoped this would be the last time an extension was sought for military courts.
“We don’t believe that giving an extension to military courts over and over is a good thing.”
