Impasse on military courts persists despite govt concessions

A meeting of parliamentary leaders on the revival of military courts ended in yet another stalemate on Friday, with further deliberations put off till Tuesday, DawnNews reported.

A decision on the tenure of military courts was deferred to a new sub-committee formed to deliberate the constitutional amendments required to revive military courts.

Sub-committee meetings ends with little progress

The sub-committee’s meeting, however, failed to definitively settle the issue, DawnNews reported.

In the meeting, chaired by Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid, the government agreed to revise its demand for a three-year period for military courts down to two.

“If all parties agree, military courts can be revived for a period of two years [instead of three],” Hamid said.

However, the opposition was not immediately forthcoming with an agreement.

“The proposal will be presented to our party leadership for approval,” PPP MNA Naveed Qamar said.

“The PPP is intent on calling an all-parties conference to discuss military courts and the constitutional amendments proposed by the government,” Qamar added.

In the revision process, the government also added clauses to put anti-state activities within the purview of military courts.

“Anti-state activities and violent acts against the state have been included in our proposal,” Hamid said.

“The proposed amendments, along with a bill regarding necessary amendments to the Pakistan Army Act, will be sent to parliamentary leaders,” the law minister said.

“Parliamentary leaders will present their views on these issues in the Feb 28 session of parliament after consulting with their party leaders,” he added.

PPP to convene APC

Pakistan Peoples Party has decided to convene an all parties conference on March 4 to deliberate on the issue of proposed extensions in the tenure of military courts.

According to a statement issued by PPP on Friday, the conference will be held in Islamabad in which the leadership of all political parties will be invited.

The official invites to political leaders will be issued from Saturday, it added.

Earlier the PPP, after staying away from Thursday’s meeting, agreed to attend the meeting on Friday (today) after the government established direct contact with party chief Asif Ali Zardari.

PPP’s parliamentary leader Syed Naveed Qamar had confirmed that he and other members of the PPP, including Zardari, had been approached by several government ministers and high-ups with the request to end the boycott.

Military courts were established and granted permission to try civilians charged with terrorism in Jan 2015 after a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in Dec 2014. The courts have been non-functional since Jan 7 after the expiry of the two-year constitutional cover given to them.

Source: Dawn