The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on Monday reserved its ruling on the intra-court appeal challenging the verdict that barred the trial of civilians in military courts. The hearing on the appeal has been completed, and a short verdict is expected to be announced within this week. Justice Aminuddin Khan, who is heading the seven-member bench hearing the case, said that a brief judgment will be delivered later this week. 

The seven-judge bench had taken up a set of 38 intra-court appeals (ICAs) moved by the federal and provincial governments as well as the Shuhada Forum Balochistan etc against the SC’s Oct 23, 2023, verdict. Last year, the apex court's constitutional bench granted conditional permission to military courts to announce verdicts in cases involving 85 suspects allegedly involved in the May 9, 2023, riots. 

In its order, the constitutional bench had said judgments of military courts would be conditional to the top court's verdict on the cases pending before it. Subsequently, the military courts sentenced 85 PTI activists to two to 10 years of “rigorous imprisonment” for their involvement in the May 9, 2023, protests, marking the conclusion of trials for those held in military custody over the attacks on army installations and monuments. 

Later in January, the military accepted mercy pleas of 19 out of the 67 convicts sentenced in the May 9 riots case on "humanitarian grounds", the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. The top court, in its unanimous verdict by a five-member bench, on October 23 2023, declared civilians' trials in military courts null and void after it admitted the petitions challenging the trial of civilians involved in the May 9 riots.

During the hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan said that between 3pm and 7pm on May 9, attacks were carried out on 39 military installations. Of these, 23 were in Punjab, 8 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one in Sindh. The entire episode of May 9 was carried out with organised planning. While presenting arguments, the attorney general said that even if the events of May 9 were a reaction, such actions cannot be condoned. "Our country is not an ordinary one; due to its geography, we constantly face significant threats," he said. 

The attorney general informed the court that disciplinary action was taken by the military over negligence in the Jinnah House attack, and three senior officers were retired without pension and benefits. Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail asked whether any criminal proceedings had been initiated against any officers. The attorney general replied that criminal proceedings would have taken place if a crime had been committed; the disciplinary actions were taken for failing to prevent the May 9 incident.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)