Apex court to take up two key petitions on Oct.23

ISLAMABAD: Two different Supreme Court (SC) benches will take up on Oct.23 two highly important petitions relating to trial of civilians by military courts and general elections in ninety days.

A five-member larger bench will take up about a dozen petitions challenging the trials of civilians in military courts on Oct.23. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) instantly welcomed the formation of the bench by the top judge, believing that the panel of judges will strike down the trial of its workers by the military courts, who were allegedly involved in the May 9 destruction of military installations. It had thought that the new chief justice would not form the bench so early.

Also on Oct.23, a three-member bench will open hearings on four pleas seeking the holding of general elections within the constitutional timeframe of 90 days from the date of dissolution of the National Assembly on Aug.9.

This penal will be led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and include Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aminuddin Khan. The petitions include one moved by the PTI, which had been returned on Sept.15 with objections. Another one had been filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in August, which sought directives to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce polls within the 90-day time period mandated by the Constitution. The other two pleas were filed by (retd) Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi, a former Lahore High Court judge, and Advocate Munir Ahmad.

The other bench will be led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and include Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik.

Following the May 9 violence by the PTI, the National Assembly had passed a resolution demanding that the rioters be tried under the Army Act. Days later, the army had revealed that military proceedings against “102 miscreants” were under way.

The pleas include those filed by the PTJI, former premier Imran Khan, the SCBA, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan, former chief justice of Pakistan Jawwad S Khawaja, five members of the civil society, Junaid Razzaq and Zaman Khan Vardag.

The last time a six-judge bench had taken up challenges to the trial of civilians in military courts was on Aug.3.

The same month, the Supreme Court had rejected a plea, filed by senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of civil society activists, to constitute a full court for the case.