Impending expiration of Pakistan's authority to try civilians in military courts

Reema Omer, writing in The News on Sunday, cautions that Pakistan should not yet again renew the authority of military courts to try civilians. The current constitutional amendment expires in January. Ms. Omer argues:

Parliament’s decision to allow military courts to try civilians in secret, opaque proceedings — which was later endorsed by the Supreme Court — is one of the most glaring surrenders of fundamental freedoms of the people of Pakistan for so-called “security” in our recent past.

Yet, our political leadership is silent about the injustices perpetrated by this parallel ‘justice’ system. It is particularly telling that of the three main political parties, only the Pakistan People’s Party’s manifesto for the 2018 elections expressed concern about military courts, and that too was limited to reforming their procedures to make them more compatible with the right to fair trial. The PTI’s manifesto is completely silent on the question of military courts, and the PML-N lists them as one of their key successes in justice sector reform.

Now that the time has come for military courts’ already extended jurisdiction to expire, any attempt to renew their mandate must be resisted.

We have ample evidence to show extending their jurisdiction once again will not help counter the very real terrorist threat facing Pakistan. Instead, it will bring Pakistan a step closer to permanently incorporating into law what was said to be an “exceptional”, “short-term” departure from the normal legal processes and human rights protections, giving the State an excuse to continue to ignore the actual reasons behind the lack of accountability for terrorism and other serious crime.

Disturbingly, during the nearly four years that Pakistan has had to fix its civilian justice system so there would be no even arguable need for military courts to try civilians, it has taken no steps in that direction. "With less than three months left before these provisions lapse, it is no surprise that any comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system has not even started, let alone be completed."

In the four years they have been in operation, military courts have convicted 419 people for terrorism-related offences, out of which 247 people have been sentenced to death and 172 people have been given prison sentences. At least 56 people have been hanged. Strikingly, only two people have been acquitted.