Saturday, December 1, 2018

A credulous column from Pakistan

"The rationale behind the institution of military courts is that these are efficient in handing out convictions." So writes Mohammad Jamil, in this credulous column in the Pakistan Observer. The column never addresses the fact that the country has, in nearly four years, taken no steps to remedy what are said to have been flaws in the civilian courts that were claimed to give it no alternative but to turn to military for the trial of civilians. He claims that "Military Courts are not something unique to Pakistan, as all states use such legal framework in emergencies." That is simply not true, and those that do use military courts to prosecute civilians are violating human rights requirements. See, e.g., Cameroon, Uganda, Egypt, Venezuela.

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