Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday passed the 28th Constitutional Amendment Bill aimed at revival of military courts with two-thirds majority.

Some 255 legislators voted in favour of the bill, surpassing the two-thirds majority required for the approval of the bill presented by Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid. Only four (three of Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party and Jamshaid Dasti) members voted against the bill. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq chaired the session, while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also present on the occasion.

After a series of discussions, the government managed to get support for the military courts. The amendment bill was tabled in the assembly a day earlier.

The amendment bill will now be presented to Senate, where it would again need two-thirds majority approval in order to become law. If the bill is passed, it will reinstate military courts for a period of two years starting Jan 7, 2017 – the date on which military courts had lapsed under the previous arrangement.

Lawmakers from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) abstained from voting on the bill, saying they had reservations regarding its legal language, specifically with the phrase ‘terrorism in the name of religion’.

Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said on the occasion that terrorism would not be defeated until mindsets were changed. “If we violate sovereignty of other countries, the situation will remain unchanged,” Bilour said, adding that military courts are not a solution to the problem.

Criticizing the government, Pakistan Muslim League-Zia MNA Ijazul Haq noted that had the national action plan been implemented in letter and spirit, the need to revive military courts would not even arise. However, he supported the bill and said that revival of the military courts was need of the country and not that of the security forces.

Dr Nafisa Shah of the PPP said that military courts were working in a number of democratic countries in the world. She said that her party voted in support of the bill because extraordinary measures were needed to address the menace of terrorism.

Winding up the discussion, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that after the expiry of the tenure of the military courts on January 7 this year, the government in consensus with all the parliamentary political parties had decided to revive it. He said at least 15 meetings of parliamentary leaders and five meetings of the technical committee were held in this regard. He said it was agreed to revive the tenure of the military courts for the next two years.

Dar said the Parliamentary Committee on National Security that was constituted after the incident of Abbottabad, would also be revived through a resolution and it would oversee the functioning of the military courts. The minister said that the decision had been taken because the country was confronting extraordinary challenges and this step would help restore peace in the country.

Earlier, the National Assembly also approved amendments to Pakistan Army Act, 1952. Federal Minister Zahid Hamid presented the Army Act Amendment Bill 2017. The minister presented five amendments in Clause 2 of the Army Act. The House granted clause-wise approval of the amendments in the Army Act.

Military courts were disbanded on Jan 7 after a sunset clause included in the legal provisions under which the tribunals were established, expired. Till recently, the government and the opposition had struggled to reach a consensus on reviving the courts despite frequent discussions.

The primary concern of critics was the mystery surrounding military court trials: no one knows who the convicts are, what charges have been brought against them, or what the accused’s defence is against the allegations leveled.