The October 2023 trial had been widely acclaimed as “historical.” The one issued by five judges on Tuesday will one day be equally significant, although for completely different reasons. Earlier this week, while the Pakistani were still cheering their Air Force after successrs of the night from next door, the Constitutional Bank of the Supreme Court threw a wet blanket on the public mood with the announcement that it was restoring sections of the Pakistan army law that allowed civilians to be nuanced in court.
Declaging with a majority of 5-2, the Bank revoked the unanimous decision issued in October 2023 by five high-level judges of the Supreme Court, including three that are still serving, especially the Tidiple Justice of Pakistan, who had ruled that there could be no justification under the Constitution for the military trials of civilians.
It can be remembered that the original sentence also ruled that all cases against civilians who are tried by virtue of the law must be transferred to civil courts, where they would be retracted according to the ordinary criminal law. Unfortunately, that was never what it was.
The last ruling issued by the Constitutional Bank was the salt in the wound for many in the legal community, which had acclaimed the original trial for restoring a measure of holiness, equity, transparency and due process in the Pakistani justice system, only to see it eliminated within two months by an appeal bank established by the former head of justice Qazi Faez Isaz.
It can also be remembered that, as the then judge of Puisne had alleged, this appeal bank was formed in violation of the Practice and Procedure Law and in response to the requests moved by the controversial governments of caregivers whose possession had already exceeded its constitutional expiration dates. To top it off, the Appeals Bank was given to a judge who had already revealed his mind in the military trial of civilians.
From then on, the legal destination of about 103 people faced by military trials remained in Limbo from December 2023 until Tuesday, a period of approximately a year and a half. The last call was to undo the profits achieved for civil rights under the original verdict and return to Status Quo before. Unfortunately, while people became a heart of victory in heaven, they were defeated by the courts. It depends on people to get their own conclusions.
Posted in Dawn, May 9, 2025
