Top court seeks record of all those arrested in connection with May 9 riots n Rejects stay order request against trials of civilians in military courts n 7-judge bench hears case after Justice Isa, Justice Tariq refuse to sit in the bench n Chief Justice directs to free all journalists.

ISLAMABAD   -  The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday di­rected the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) to provide the details of persons ar­rested in connection with May 9 vandalism incidents and all those detained in civil and military facilities across the country.

A seven-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Jus­tice of Pakistan Jus­tice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Jus­tice Munib Akhter, Jus­tice Yahya Afridi, Jus­tice Muzahir Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Ma­lik heard the case af­ter the nine-member bench dissolved as Jus­tice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood separated.

Justice Faez said; “I don’t consider this

(nine-member bench) as the court there­fore will not recuse, but would not sit in any bench until the petitions against Su­preme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 were decided.” Justice Tariq said; “I fully support the version of Justice Qazi”.

As the hearing began, Justice Isa ob­served that he was astonished to see his name in the cause list which was issued last night at 8:00pm. Justice Isa said the petitions, which were filed in the last, had been fixed for hearing before others. He was not expressing his excuse from hear­ing the instant case, rather he wanted to firstly conclude the case pertaining to the SC Practice and Procedure Bill, he added.

After this, the nine members of the bench left the courtroom and later on a seven-member bench was formed to re­sume the hearing of the case. Sardar La­tif Khosa, representing senior advocate Aitzaz Ahsan, requested the court to is­sue stay orders against the trials of the civilians in the military courts. The Chief Justice said they will not grant stay. He added, “Without hearing the attorney general stay order can’t be passed.”

Faisal Siddiqui, who is counsel of civ­il society group, said they have not chal­lenged the vires of Army Act, but opposed the trials of civilians under Army Act.

The chief justice refused to grant stay, saying that it would be seen after hearing the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP). He said that the court had received four petitions and one of the grounds in them is that the provisions in the Army Act do not cater to the law of the country i.e. no appeal available, the reasons of the judg­ments are not recorded, adjudication are not independent, and the trial is not held in the open court.

He questioned whether trials at the military court are under civil law, and the accused has the right to be repre­sented by a lawyer. He added that the lawyers are harassed, as two or three lawyers are terrorised. One gentleman was kept in illegal custody for six days. Uzair Bandahri was kept at the police station for four hours, and Latif Khosa residence was attacked and mistreated.

The chief justice said that in such cir­cumstance no lawyer will be able to ap­pear before the military courts. He fur­ther said that all journalists should be freed. This is not right to abduct them and keep them in illegal custody. This is the violation of their fundamental rights. 

PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s counsel Shoaib Shaheen informed the bench that Registrar Office had raised objec­tion on his petition, therefore they have filed an appeal against the Registrar Of­fice’s objections. He asked the Chief Jus­tice to direct the office to allot number to their prayer petition. However, the Chief Justice said that there are many prayers in the petition, and except one, other prayers are of political nature. He said that they are not dismissing his pe­tition. He added that but it goes in dif­ferent category.

Earlier, Sardar Latif Khosa briefed the bench about 9th May incident, and in pursuance of that arrest of Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf leaders and workers. He told that 96 FIRs have been registered against the PTI workers, under offences 302, 324, 436, 450 and 452. He apprised that some people arrested after 9th May were handed to Military Commanding Officer Irfan Athar by a judge of the Spe­cial Court in Lahore.

He then contended that after invoking of Article 245, the high courts’ jurisdic­tion under Article 199 had ended. How­ever, Justice Afridi pointed out that the notification for the requisition of armed forces had been recalled. Latif Khosa then said that a press statement issued after the Formation Commanders Con­ference had stated that there was “irre­futable evidence” regarding the events of May 9. “Did the press release say trials would happen in military courts due to irrefutable evidence?” CJP Bandial asked. At this Khosa replied in the negative.

Justice Bandial then asked whether the trials of civilians in the country’s military courts had commenced. Latif Khosa con­tended that when “The Formation Com­manders’ Conference said there is irrefut­able evidence so how will a colonel issue a different verdict during the trial?” At the same time, he made it clear that he was not asking for the perpetrators to be re­leased.

“I have no sympathy for those who attacked military installations,” Kho­sa said. Those who have committed crimes should be punished in accor­dance with the law, he said. Howev­er, Justice Mansoor urged the lawyer to show the court that trials in mili­tary courts had in fact begun. Latif Kho­sa then read out the verdicts issued by anti-terrorism courts for handing over suspects to military courts.