Pakistan's top court allows military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts in May 9 riots

The Pakistani Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts in cases pertaining to civilians held for their alleged involvement in the May 9 riots, Dawn reported.

The Pakistani Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts in cases pertaining to civilians held for their alleged involvement in the May 9 riots, Dawn reported. It directed that judgements be announced in cases in which the nominated suspects could be released before Eid.

The case pertains to the trial of more than 100 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the riots that followed ex-premier Imran Khan's arrest on May 9 last year. The Pakistan SC also issued the directives as it heard a set of intra-court appeals (ICAs) against its October 23 unanimous ruling nullifying the military trials of civilians involved in the May 9 riots.

A six-member bench led by Justice Aminuddin Khan and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Azhar Hasan Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan presided over the proceedings. In a widely praised ruling last year, a five-member SC bench comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Ayesha Malik -- had unanimously declared that trying the accused civilians in military courts was 'ultra vires' the Constitution, Dawn reported.

The apex court had declared that the accused would not be tried in military courts but in criminal courts of competent jurisdiction established under the ordinary or special law of the land. Earlier this month, former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Jawwad S Khawaja, who is one of the petitioners to challenge the military trials, requested the apex court for an early hearing of the appeals, contending that the continued presence of civilians in military custody was "beyond compensation".

At the last hearing, Pakistan's top court had asked the federal government for information about how many of the civilians allegedly involved in the May 9 violence have either been awarded short jail terms by military courts, or waiting to be released under Section 382-B of the CrPC, or straight away acquitted, Dawn reported. During the same hearing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Additional Advocate General Syed Kauser Ali Shah submitted a letter, written to him by KP Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmainkhel, expressing the provincial government's intention to withdraw the appeal against the Oct 23 ruling. (ANI)

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