During the hearing of the intra-court appeal against the trial of civilians in military courts in the Supreme Court, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s decision to extend the term of former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Bajwa was referred to.
A 7-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the case, PTI founder Imran Khan’s lawyer Uzair Bhandari gave arguments.
During the hearing, Justice Mansoor Shah’s decision to extend the term of former Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa was referred to.
Justice Aminuddin Khan remarked that Salman Raja referred to India in his arguments, Salman Raja said that in India, an appeal is filed against a military trial in an independent tribunal, the right to appeal in India was given by Parliament itself through legislation or there were court instructions.
Uzair Bhandari took the position that he was not aware of this, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked that we have the example of Kulbhushan Jadhav before us, Kulbhushan was given the right to appeal through special legislation, the right to appeal was given due to the decision of the International Court of Justice.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel remarked that I made a suggestion in a decision regarding the judges of the subordinate judiciary, on my suggestion a committee of judges of the High Court was formed and test interviews of judges of the subordinate judiciary started.
Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan remarked that there is also a case of extension of the tenure of the former Army Chief, there was no law to extend the tenure of the Army Chief, on the instructions of the Supreme Court, the Parliament legislated for the extension of the Army Chief.
Justice Aminuddin Khan said that at that time everyone was sitting together for a notification, this was our situation. Uzair Bhandari said that in the F.B. Ali case, Aitzaz Ahsan told you how the trial was conducted, fair trial is a distant thing, in a prison trial, not even a piece of paper is allowed to be taken away. On this, Justice Aminuddin Khan remarked that if a piece of paper is not allowed to be taken away, then where do the letters come from?
Justice Musarrat Hilali remarked that yes, yes, nowadays there is also a dispute over letters. Justice Jamal Mandokhel said that you should only argue on the issue of fundamental rights.
Uzair Bhandari took the position that even death sentences are pronounced in a court martial, there is no term of the judge, no training, no legal understanding, no right of appeal against the sentence, only an appeal for mercy can be made to the Army Chief, the jurisdiction of writs can be used in the High Court but it is limited.
