Countdown to sunset

The term of the special military courts [in Pakistan] will expire in January 2017. But the reforms in the criminal justice system have not started yet. Of course, the government may extend the term of the military courts for a couple of years. But in any event, these courts can’t work for an indefinite period.

So if the government really is committed to rooting out militancy, the long-run recipe is not military courts but reforms in the mainstream judicial system.

From this column by Hussain H. Zaidi in The International News