ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice of Pakistan Jawwad S Khawaja prayed to the apex court to declare that the bench for hearing appeals against the military courts judgment has not been constituted by the Committee as required under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.
A six-member bench, headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan on December 13, 2023 by a majority of 5-1 had suspended the order of its five-judge bench, which had stayed the trials of civilians by military courts.
The bench in its short order said the military courts may continue the trials, but the final judgment will be subject to the outcome of this Court’s verdict.
The former CJP Jawwad S Khawaja on Thursday, filed an application for the recusal of Justice Tariq Masood from the six-member bench. According to him, Justice Tariq has already given his mind regarding civilians’ trial by military courts.
In his application, former CJP Jawwad stated that from the contents of Justice Ijazul Ahsan’s letter, it is clear that the Committee decided that a seven-member bench, in order of seniority, would hear the appeal in the matter of the trial of civilians in military courts.
The former chief justice requested that to ensure compliance with the provisions of law, seven senior most eligible judges (as decided by the committee) should be constituted to hear the ICAs.
He prayed that the present bench (six-judge) is not a lawful and larger bench under Section 5 of the 2023 Act, since it comprises a judge who has previously heard the original petition and passed a note/order deciding one of the issues.
He asked the Court to refer the matter back to the Committee for implementation of its decision to constitute a bench comprising the seven senior most eligible judges to hear these appeals.
Former CJP on 28 December 2023 wrote a letter to the Committee stating that a communication from Justice Ijazul Ahsan to the Secretary of the Committee dated 11 December 2023 was uploaded on the Supreme Court website.
A five-member larger bench, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Justice Ayesha A Malik on 23-10-23 declared that military trials of the civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the riots that followed ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 unconstitutional, illegal and of no legal effect.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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