Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will take important decisions in the current week regarding the future of military courts, keeping in mind that the military establishment and the Interior Ministry still favoured these courts.

Sources told Daily Times that the premier would chair an important meeting that will be attended by the military leadership as well. Reports of different agencies will be presented in the meeting regarding the situation of law and order in the country, while Adviser to the PM on National Security Nasir Janjua will brief the participants on the implementation of the National Action Plan.

Sources said that the Interior Ministry and military establishment wanted the government to let the military courts function, since the courts ensured quick results in terrorism-related cases. This was the prime reason the Interior Ministry was still sending such cases to military courts.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), military courts had sentenced 274 terrorists during the past two years. Of those convicted, 161 were awarded death penalty, while 113 were imprisoned. Military sources said that surprisingly only 12 terrorists were sent to the gallows, while more than 150 death penalty cases were in courts because the military courts’ decisions were challenged in the higher courts.

Sources said that Nawaz Sharif was not under any pressure, so he would make a political decision regarding military courts because two main allies of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) –were not in favour of giving extension to military courts.

Sources said that the Interior Ministry has prepared some alternative recommendations as well, while two bills passed in the Senate will also be discussed in that high-level meeting.