PML-Q to prepare its own draft of military courts bill

ISLAMABAD: The opposition has further split over the issue of revival of military courts as a group of four parties, led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), has decided to prepare its own draft of the 23rd constitutional amendment bill.

Now three drafts — one each being prepared by the ruling PML-N, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the PML-Q ­— are likely to be presented in parliament, which will make it difficult for the government and the opposition to forge consensus on any of them.

It has also not been decided whether the three bills will be tabled in the National Assembly or they will be sent to the parliamentary parties for consultation so that a consensus bill could be drafted.

“We want to present our own bill because we have our own point of view about military courts,” PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain told Dawn after a meeting with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari at Zardari House on Sunday.

The PPP had on Saturday hosted a multiparty conference on the issue, which was not attended by the country’s second and third biggest political parties — the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The PPP co-chairman desires that all opposition parties get united when the issue of military courts is taken up by parliament.

He said the PML-Q wanted revival of military courts to ensure that exemplary punishment was awarded to terrorists.

“However, we want that cases of only jet black terrorists should be referred to military courts and other cases should be tried under Anti-Terrorism Act in normal courts,” Mr Zardari added.

The three allies of the PML-Q which will work with it on a joint draft bill are: Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Sunni Ittehad Council and Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen.

The PML-Q chief said he had convened a meeting of his allies on Tuesday to finalise the draft bill.

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

It is believed that the decision of the PML-Q to present its own bill may cause more complications as the government and the PPP are also drafting their separate bills.

The government had on Feb 17 presented its draft at a meeting of the parliamentary parties, but it was opposed by the opposition parties as the government had proposed confinement of military courts’ jurisdiction to ‘religious groups’ and ‘sects’ and three-year term of the courts.

During another meeting of the parliamentary parties on Feb 24, the government agreed to reduce the proposed term of military courts from three to two years. But the meeting failed to reach a consensus on whether or not jurisdiction of the courts should be confined to ‘religious groups’ and ‘sects’.

As the meeting remained inconclusive due to disagreement shown by the opposition parties, the PPP called a multiparty conference on March 4.

When contacted, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said that Mr Zardari and Chaudhry Shujaat discussed the PPP’s draft bill for the 23rd constitutional amendment. He said the political situation of the country also came under discussion.

Source:Dawn