ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the counsels of military courts’ convicts that they could examine trial and appellate courts record if give undertaking they would not take pictures or notes.
Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali said the papers are very confidential, therefore, confidentiality is necessary.
The chief justice was heading a five-member larger bench, which heard the appeals of convicts’ families. Around 10 convicts were awarded death sentence by the military court for their alleged involvement in different terrorist activities.
In pursuance of the order, Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf and AAG Attique Shah submitted record of military trial and appellate courts in separate envelops. The material comprises the trial and appellate courts judgments, every petitioner oath, the name of presiding officers etc.
The chief justice said: “They have seen the record and one of the convicts in his statement accepted he is jihadi and whatever he did had done in the way of Allah.’”
The chief justice asked Abdul Latif Afridi, Asma Jehangir and Khalid Afridi, who represented the families of convicts, that they could examine the record with the commitment that they will not take any picture or notes of it. “This should be strictly confidential.”
Asma said: “We are aware of the sensitivity of the case.” She assured that they will cooperate with the court. Upon that the chief justice said then they could peruse the record in Attorney General’s Office next week.
The court handing over the files and papers to Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf and they would take up the case next week.
The AGP said that the counsel would not quote the classified documents in the high courts.
Bacha Liaqa, Nek Maro, Anwar Bibi, Mashooqa Bibi, Ali ur Rehman, Alaf Khan, Sakhi Muhammad, Sher Alam, Javed Iqbal and Mohibullah, family members of 10 persons, convicted by the military court had filed appeals against the order passed by the learned Peshawar High Court, dismissing their petitions with the ruling that no question of coram non judice or want of jurisdiction was established by the petitioners.
The case is adjourned till third week of April. After the hearing, Latif Afridi, who is representing relatives of four convicts, while talking to The Nation, said: “I regret that I could not do justice with my clients. We are dead against terrorists and stated this on record but what happened today is not right.” “As a counsel I could not do justice with the case.” He said today his conscience is not satisfied.