Petition contesting establishment of military courts filed in Pak SC

A petition contesting the setting up of military courts in Pakistan has been filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, a report said.

The petition argued that the 21st Constitutional Amendment and the Pakistan Army (amendment) Act which seeks to establish military courts to speed up the trial of terror suspects is against its basic structure as it hits the independence of the judiciary of Pakistan and the freedom to profess of religion, reported the Dawn.

The amendments to empower military courts to try civilian terror suspects were passed by the Parliament on Tuesday and approved by President Mamnoon Hussain into law yesterday.

The new laws have been introduced under government's 20-point National Action Plan to fight terrorism approved by a meeting of politicians convened by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week.

Tuesday's amendment, which was introduced at the behest of the military in the wake of the December 16 terror attack on a school in Peshawar, has revived memories of perceived excesses of military courts set up by military dictators and is being seen as a step backwards that could hurt the parliament, democracy and judiciary.