Where have all the cases gone?

The News International reports that the vast majority of cases proposed by provincial authorities for trial in Pakistan's new military courts have been rejected by Federation officials:

The Interior Ministry on Friday returned to Sindh and Punjab 96 out of 106 cases sent by their apex committees for military courts. . . .

The Interior Ministry officials told the [Standing Committee on Interior] that the federal government had designed a method to send cases to the military courts. They said the cases go to provincial apex committees before the provincial home departments. The apex committees send cases to the Federation where a special committee formed by the Interior Ministry reviews them before approving them for military courts.

Representatives from the GHQ, ministry, advocate general and attorney general’s office, etc, are part of the special committee. They said Sindh sent 63 cases for military courts out of which only three cases were recommended and the remaining 60 rejected.

They said Punjab sent 43 cases out of which seven were approved for military courts. They said the Islamabad apex committee had not yet sent any case.

Given these figures, it is becoming increasingly hard to see the military courts that were authorized under the Supreme Court-approved 21st Amendment as a panacea. At the same time, little seems to be happening with respect to reform or improvement of the civilians courts. The 21st Amendment lapses in less than 16 months.