The caretaker Punjab government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Tuesday against the decision of a five-member bench that had declared the trials of civilians under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, as unconstitutional.
The Punjab government’s petition comes a few days after the defence ministry moved an intra-court appeal challenging the Oct 23 verdict. Previous petitions were also moved by the federal, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments.
The petition named ex-chief justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, one of those who successfully petitioned the top court against the military trials of civilians, the federation of Pakistan through the secretaries of Ministry of Defence and Law and Parliamentary Affairs, and the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and KP as respondents.
The petition has not yet been accepted for hearing. The plea said that the events of May 9 indicated a “premeditated and intentional attempt to undermine the country’s armed forces and inhibit the country’s internal security”.
It said that the petitions against the military trials of civilians were not maintainable before the SC in its original jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. It said the challenges raised in the original petitions could have been adjudicated by the high courts in their original constitutional jurisdiction under Article 199.
It further said that the SC verdict was “not sustainable” as it failed to set aside or decide the fate of orders passed by anti-terrorism courts under Section 549 (delivery to military authorities of persons liable to be tried by court-martial) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The petition urged the court to allow the appeal, set aside the verdict by the five-member bench and “dismiss the petitions with costs”.
