ISLAMABAD - Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Rashid A Rizvi has opposed giving an extension to military courts saying the past experience yielded no fruitful results.
Rizvi while talking to Press Association of Supreme Court here on Thursday said that instead of giving the extension to the military courts, reforms should be introduced to improve the judicial system.
He said without strengthening the prosecution, intelligence agencies and investigating agencies, incidents of terrorism could not be controlled.
The military courts were established through the 21st Constitutional Amendment in 2015 after the gruesome terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014. These courts ceased to function in January 2017 upon expiry of its two-year term. Parliamentary leaders have, however, agreed to extend the tenure of military courts for two years.
Rizvi urged all stakeholders to resist the extension of military courts saying “these courts do not provide an opportunity of a fair and transparent trial to the accused”.
“Cosmetic convictions by the military courts cannot resolve the issue of terrorism,” the SCBA president said.
Rizvi said that military courts deny the right of appeal to the accused, which he said violate the due process of law. He said that if an appeal is filed with the chief of army staff and after its rejection, the accused was hanged the very next day which was an injustice to the accused.
The SCBA president said that any court of law was required to wait for the disposal of an appeal. He said that after the incidents of terrorism in Quetta, the prime minister and chief minister visited the province but the interior minister, who is responsible for controlling the wave of terrorism, did not visit the province.