Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) Saturday expressed its reservations over the revival of military courts and announced that it would prepare a draft of legislation on the courts for presenting it to the Parliament as an alternative to the bill already prepared by the government to ensure fair trial of the accused. The PPPP said that its proposed legislative bill will ensure minimum standards of human rights and fair trial of the accused to prevent the misuse of the courts for political victimisation.
Former President Asif Ali Zardari and his son PPPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed these views while hosting a meeting of Multi-Party Conference (MPC) attended by leaders of 13 different political parties. The MPC was convened to discuss a 4-point agenda including extension in the tenure of military courts. According to sources, every political party presented its views on military courts and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) reforms, but they failed to reach a consensus. The MPC proved to be a futile exercise, added the sources.
Major opposition parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) did not attend the meeting. Besides Zardari and Bilawal, the PPPP team consisted of Opposition Leader in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Opposition Leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, former Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek, Senator Sherry Rehman, former Chairman Senate Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Senator Sardar Ali Khan, Senator A Qayyum Soomro, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Rukhsana Bangash and Fauzia Habib.
The agenda before the Multi-Party Conference was to discuss the revival of military courts, implementation on the National Action Plan (NAP), Fata reforms and the profiling of Pashtuns in some parts of the country. Upon asking by the political parties, Zardari tasked Senator Naek to urgently finalise the draft legislation for military courts, in case their formation is deemed inevitable by all political parties. He also asked Khursheed Shah and Aitzaz Ahsan to share the draft legislative proposal with other political parties.
About the Fata reforms, Zardari said the PPPP has spearheaded reforms in tribal areas, opened the door for reforms in Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that had been closed for a century and allowed political parties to operate freely in the tribal areas by extending the Political Parties Order, 2002 to Fata.
Delaying reforms implementation for five years shows the government's insincerity and amounts to hoodwinking the tribal people, he said. He asked for immediate implementation on the Fata reforms. "We are opposed to any delay on any pretext," Zardari clarified. Zardari also deplored the non-implementation on various provisions of the National Action Plan and called for accountability of those who were responsible for it.
Later, talking to the media after the MPC, PPPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, "We have reservations over military courts and we are against their re-establishment. However, a committee will be established under Farooq H Naik to prepare a draft of legislation if revival of the military courts is necessary."
He said the government has failed to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) and it is a criminal negligence. He said that political parties expressed reservations over Fata reforms and performance of National Accountability Bureau in the MPC. He called for immediate merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that it would be a great injustice with the tribal people if reforms are delayed.
Secretary General PPPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said that his party has reservations over military courts and there is also a need to explain the terms 'terrorist organisation' or 'terrorist group.' He said that for ensuring fair trial as contained in Article 10A of the Constitution, it is necessary to allow the accused to engage a defence counsel of his/her choice, he/she must have the right of appeal and there should be presence of observers in the military court.
He said questions have been raised by political parties in the MPC and they include: how a jet black terrorist has been defined? How many of 161 accused sentenced to death were jet black terrorists? How many were allowed to engage a lawyer of their choice? How many were denied the charge-sheet, copies of judgement and evidence? How many were sentenced merely on the basis of 'confession' without supporting evidence? What precautions had been taken to ensure that the said confession was not extracted through torture?
The very purpose of allowing military courts to function for only two years was to have an opportunity to revisit their working, ask questions and consider how best the shortcomings encountered can be removed, he said.
Elaborating the party policy on Fata reforms, he said that president as the overlord and law-giver in Fata as well as FCR are two basic pillars of colonial structure but the reform package failed to demolish these remnants of colonial structures. The Riwaj Act, replacing the FCR, has not been made public, he said and demanded that it must be brought before the Parliament as the first step towards enabling the Parliament to legislate for Fata, he said.
With the introduction of the Riwaj Act and the ultimate merger of FATA with KPK, the province will have three sets of laws; one for the districts, another for Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) and the Riwaj Act for Fata. Multiple laws in multiple areas are never considered a good thing.
The Multi-Party Conference was attended by heads and representatives of 13 political parties including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain of PML-Q, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI-F, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao of QWP, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of ANP, Siraj-ul-Haq of JI, FATA MNA Shah Jee Gull Afridi, Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri from BNP (Awami), Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo of National Party, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed of Awami Muslim League, Sahibzada Hamid Raza of Sunni Ittehad Council, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur of PAT, Syed Shujjat Bukhari of Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqqa Jafria, and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas from MWM.