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Govt decides to broaden scope of military courts
* Plan to bring amendments in constitution to set up special courts ‘shelved’ after resistance from some political parties * Army Act 1952 will be amended to empower military courtsISLAMABAD: The federal government is considering bringing necessary amendments in the Army Act 1952 to empower the special trial courts to try and execute the terrorists involved in different kinds of terrorist activities, including political violence.
In the wake of reservations shown by a Karachi-based political parties over setting up of special trial courts or military courts comprising serving army officials, the government has decided to amend the Army Act 1952 instead of introducing a fresh amendment in parliament, credible sources in Prime Minister’s Secretariat told Daily Times. Some political parties, they said, want the scope of military courts confined to the cases of religious terrorism only, while excluding the political violence because several members of the militant wings of these parties are involved in heinous terror activities and many of them are on death row.
The federal government wants the scope and mandate of special trial courts extended to dealing with all kinds of terrorism to take to task political terrorists across Pakistan along side the members of banned outfits and terrorist organisations, the sources said. In a linked development, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan has directed that terrorists on death row whose mercy pleas have been rejected should be executed immediately. Nisar chaired the executive board meeting of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) at the PM House on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Inspector General of Police of all provinces, home secretaries and representatives of intelligence agencies.
The meeting discussed the anti-terrorism National Action Plan and representatives of the provinces were provided the document pertaining to it. The interior minister directed that the data of members of banned organisations should be collected. During the meeting, Nisar said NACTA has been made fully operational and directed all departments concerned for coordinated and prompt intelligence sharing with NACTA to foil terrorist and subversive activities across the country.
Former chief justice of Pakistan Justice (r) Iftikhar Chaudhry had on Tuesday said there is “no constitutional room” for military courts in the presence of an independent judiciary. He termed the military courts “unconstitutional” and said the implementation of court orders were the sole responsibility of the former or present governments. “The basic structure of the constitution cannot be changed,” he said, adding that the basic constitutional framework guarantees the independence of judiciary. He said the existing judicial system should be strengthened.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk