Meanwhile in Peshawar

While attention has focused on the International Court of Justice case concerning Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, there is other litigation in the Pakistani courts over the military courts. A new case has been filed in Peshawar High Court with respect to the conviction and death sentence of a former Pakistani Taliban spokesman. As reported here:

Muslim Khan’s counsel, Advocate Tariq Asad, put forward different objections to the trial of Khan under the Army Act. 

He said that Khan was taken into custody by security forces in Sept 2009 after which nothing was known about him until his family came to know about his conviction through newspapers in Dec 2016. 

The counsel said that the family had not been provided record of the trial proceedings and it was not known under what charges Khan had been sentenced to death. 

“They submitted an application to the military court of appeal seeking details of the trial proceedings, but no reply was given to them,” argued Asad. 

He said that Khan was not provided a counsel of his own choice and was denied a fair trial which was his fundamental right under article 10-A of the Constitution. 

The counsel said that the convict had remained in custody of security forces for seven years and it was not known under what conditions he had been kept. 

“Apparently the proceedings of the military court were one-sided,” he alleged.