Military courts need of the time: Shujaat

ISLAMABAD: PML-Q President and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Sunday said the military courts are the need of the time, and this issue should not be ignored through statements.

“The fears of those opposing the military courts are beyond comprehension,” he said while talking to the media on Sunday. He said according to the military spokesman, 717 cases were brought before the military courts and out of which 648 cases were decided and 345 terrorists were executed in the last four years.

Shujaat said the fact should not be ignored that the National Action Plan was approved with the consensus between the political and military leadership. “The points which relate to the Pakistan Army in the National Action Plan were implemented, but it is regretted that the civilian institutions did not complete their work,” he said.

The former prime minister said he was present in the meeting with all the political leadership when the issue of the military courts had come up and he had suggested asking a mother who had sent her child to school, and got back his body in pieces. “The mothers of such children have no interest in long speeches on law and constitution,” he said. He said in a meeting after the incident of the Army Public School, all the political leadership—including Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Imran Khan, Aftab Sherpao besides General Raheel Sharif had supported the National Action Plan. “And after the meeting and approval of the National Action Plan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman prayed for the success of the action plan,” he said.

Earlier, Ch Sujaat Hussain has convened a consultative meeting of his party today (Monday) to decide the future line of action on the deadlock with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the future of the alliance in Punjab and the Centre.

The meeting would be attended by the Punjab Assembly Speaker, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, PML-Q Secretary General and Federal Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema, Moonis Elahi and party legislators of the national and the provincial assemblies. The deadlock between the PTI and PML-Q is persisting for the last few days when the Punjab Minister for Mines and Minerals, Ammar Yasir, the lone minister of the PML-Q in the Punjab cabinet, tendered his resignation on Friday to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, following Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry's statement about creating a forward bloc in the PML-Q. It is expected that the PML-Q leadership will also hold a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan to convey the party’s reservations.