During the hearing on the intra-court appeal against the trial of civilians in military courts in the Supreme Court, Defense Ministry’s lawyer Khawaja Haris completed his arguments.
A 7-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan is hearing the case.
Defense Ministry’s lawyer Khawaja Haris continued his arguments and said that today I will conclude my arguments, the courts are mentioned in Article 175 of the Constitution, military courts are formed under a separate law which is recognized.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel remarked that the powers of the courts formed under Article 175 are broad, the jurisdiction of the court formed under a specific law is also limited. My words created confusion yesterday. I am not worried about the media, but some retired judges called me and contacted me. I want to clarify that I did not mention judges but individuals regarding not accepting the decision yesterday.
Justice Jamal Mandokhel said that what he was trying to say was that two people in a gathering would say that the decision of eight judges is like this, some media colleagues reported it incorrectly, the 21st Constitutional Amendment was made because the country was in a state of war.
Defense Ministry lawyer Khawaja Haris took the position that the 21st Amendment was made because the crimes in these incidents did not fall under the Army Act, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that what is meant by nexus, one meaning of nexus is a nexus, connection, conspiracy or involvement with a spy, another definition of nexus can be that a crime that is related to the army.
Defense Ministry lawyer Khawaja Haris said that nexus means disrupting the work of defense, Justice Musarat Hilali remarked that the definition of work of defense can be stretched and taken anywhere.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel said that a person was released from the Supreme Court after 34 years, what is the benefit of someone getting justice after 34 years, we are only seeing that no one’s rights are affected,
The lawyer of the Ministry of Defense said that releasing someone after 34 years is not justice, Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi remarked that I had asked you a question before, in the past, there were attacks on sensitive places like GHQ and Mehran Air Base, the 21st Amendment decision said that from 2002 to the amendment, sixteen thousand different sensitive places were attacked.
He remarked that in such incidents, the martyrdom of personnel posted at sensitive places occurred, in one incident, two Korean aircraft were destroyed, which caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer, were these incidents not very serious, all such incidents were tried in military courts or in anti-terrorism courts.
The defense ministry’s lawyer argued that the GHQ attack case was tried in military courts, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel inquired whether the trial was held before the 21st Amendment.
Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman said that the trial of the perpetrators in the GHQ attack was conducted in a military court before the 21st Amendment. The defense ministry’s lawyer said that all the terrorists who attacked Mehran Airbase were killed on the spot, so there was no need for a military trial there, the amendment was made for crimes that do not include interference in military affairs.
With this, the arguments of the defense ministry’s lawyer Khawaja Haris were completed, after which the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the case until 11:30 am.
Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman said that we rely on the arguments of the defense ministry’s lawyer Khawaja Haris, and will give our arguments in the reply. The Balochistan government’s lawyer said that we also rely on the arguments of the defense ministry’s lawyer.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel spoke to the lawyer for the Balochistan government and said that you have to tell him how you are affected by the court decision.
