The National Assembly standing committee on law and justice was told on Wednesday that a summary for a second extension in military courts has been forwarded to the federal cabinet for approval.
The information was shared by the law ministry during a meeting of the committee, the only one formed in the lower house of Parliament so far.
The session was held with Riaz Fatyana in the chair. In attendance at the meeting were Shahbaz Sharif and Khawaja Saad Rafique, the two PML-N MNAs who are both in National Accountability Bureau’s custody and were brought to the session upon issuance of production orders.
Answering a question, Malaika Ali Bukhari, the law ministry’s parliamentary secretary, informed the committee that the interior ministry had sent a summary regarding the extension in military court’s term to the law ministry, however, the summary ‘did not mention a time period’ for which the tribunals could be extended.
She said after approving the summary, the law ministry forwarded it to the federal cabinet for approval. Once approved, the bill for the extension in military courts will be presented before the Parliament for a vote.
The military courts were allowed to try civilians accused of terrorism in January 2015, soon after a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014. In the attack, 144 people – mostly children – were killed by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
The courts remained dysfunctional from Jan 7, 2017 due to the expiry of the two-year constitutional cover till March 2017. Subsequently, the military courts were extended for another two years by the Parliament.
On December 13, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak had informed the National Assembly that the military authorities had to decide 185 cases of terrorists in three months (till March).
Also during the Wednesday meeting, PML-N lawmaker Rana Sanaullah inquired about the progress on a possible amendment in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.
Published in Daily Times, January 3rd 2019
