Monday, February 2, 2015

Pakistan's JAG has been retired

Here's a story we missed. Pakistani Judge Advocate General Naubahar has been retired even though he could have served until 2021. Late last year a new position, Director General Lawfare Directorate, was superimposed over the JAG, with a Major General filling it. The JAG position is a Brigadier billet. According to Dawn.com:
A[] former JAG told Dawn that since 2001, the JAG branch would deal with a few dozen cases on average. But as the recent amendments in the army act expanded the jurisdiction of the military courts manifold to include over 20 offences under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Protection of Pakistan Act, one can imagine that the army’s legal branch would have its hands full.
Not only will the JAG branch have to deal with internal disciplinary matters, but also terrorism cases referred to it by the federal government, increasing their workload substantially, he said.
Details here. Service regulations subject officers who have served for 30 years to annual continuation at the discretion of the Army's Service Review Board. As a practical matter, such officers have no protected tenure after 30 years and effectively serve at the pleasure of the service until mandatory retirement by reason of age (at 60). This would not seem to be a good way to ensure decisional independence. (The use of repeated year-long recalls of retired military judges by the United States in connection with the military commissions -- and courts-martial? -- suffers from a similar flaw.)

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