ISLAMABAD: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court assigned the three-member supreme court committee the issue of bench formation in a case concerning civilian trials in military tribunals.
The chief justice and the two most senior justices of the highest court make up the committee's three members.
A change to the Practice and Procedure Bills 2023 led to the formation of the committee. The chief justice used to be the only one who could make decisions.
A broader bench of six judges, presided over by Justice Aminuddin Khan, also requested documents pertaining to military court rulings concerning the conviction of twenty defendants.
Justice Shahid Waheed had requested specifics of the rulings made by the military courts from Mansoor Awan, Pakistan's Attorney General, in order to determine whether or not Article 10-A was being followed.
The former CJP Jawwad S. Khawaja's attorney, Khawaja Ahmad Hossain, asked the bench to forward the case to the committee for the bench's reformation.
Last year, the supreme court issued a conditional stay of its earlier ruling to declare 103 civilians' military trials unconstitutional pending the outcome of the case.
The caretaker federal government and the provincial governments of Balochistan, Punjab, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa filed a number of intra-court appeals (ICAs) challenging the earlier unanimous order nullifying the military trials, which resulted in the majority 5-1 verdict rendered by a six-member panel.
But previously, a five-judge Supreme Court bench unanimously ruled that the civilians' prosecution in military tribunals was invalid and directed that the 103 defendants in cases pertaining to the unrest on May 9 and 10, 2023, be prosecuted in accordance with regular criminal laws.
By a 4-1 majority, the court also ruled that other Army Act provisions were unconstitutional and had no legal standing.
"Without affecting the generality of the above, criminal courts of competent jurisdiction established under the ordinary and/or special law of the land in relation to such offences of which they may stand accused shall try civilians and accused persons, being approximately 103 persons who were identified in the list provided to the Court by the learned Attorney General for Pakistan by way of CMA No.5327 of 2023 in Constitution Petition No.24 of 2023 and all other persons who are now or may at any time be similarly placed in relation to the events arising from and out of May 9 and 10, 2023," the court order stated.
The court further ruled that any activity or proceedings under the Army Act concerning the individuals mentioned above or any other individuals in a similar situation (including, but not restricted to, Constitution Petition Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28 and 30 & 35 of 2023 6 to trial by Court Martial) are and would be of no legal effect.
