SC may take up pleas on election, military court trials soon

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Thursday indicated that the apex court may take up the pleas calling for timely elections and challenging the decision to try civilians in military courts in the coming days.

CJP Isa passed the remarks while discussing the adjournment of a case related to Pak Arab Refinery's employees when the lawyers for the petitioners asked the top judge to adjourn the hearing for 15 days.

“Cases seeking timely general elections and trial of civilians in military courts will be fixed soon. Difficult cases are about to come in the Supreme Court and it will be tough to schedule other cases [during this period],” remarked CJP Isa.

He further stated that they would fix the employees' case after two months.

Uncertainty around polls

The Shehbaz Sharif-led government dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, while Sindh and Balochistan assemblies were also prematurely dissolved to allow the electoral authority to hold elections in the country within 90 days.

Had the assemblies been dissolved on time, the electoral body was constitutionally bound to hold polls in 60 days.

However, the ECP decided against holding polls within the stipulated time as the Council of Common Interest (CCI), days before the dissolution of the assemblies, approved the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023.

The CCI approval made it mandatory for the commission to hold elections following fresh delimitations in light of the results of the census.

Subsequently, on August 17, the ECP announced the schedule of new delimitations to be carried out as per the new census approved by the CCI.

But in September, the commission announced that general elections in the country would take place in the last week of January 2024.

However, before the announcement, multiple petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against the delay in polls.

Among the petitioners are the Supreme Court Bar Association, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). All three petitioners have been asking the apex court to ensure that polls are held within 90 days.

These petitions were filed during the tenure of former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial, however, they were not fixed for a hearing.

Military court trials

The other petition that CJP Isa hinted about is related to the trial of civilians in military courts who were arrested in connection with attacks on army installations during the May 9 protests.

In response to the move, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja, lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, and five civil society members, including Piler Executive Director Karamat Ali, requested the apex court to declare the military trials "unconstitutional".

The initial hearings were marred by objections on the bench formation and recusals by the judges.

Finally, a six-member bench comprising then CJP Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Justice Ayesha Malik heard the petitions.

It had held multiple hearings of the case but had not issued a verdict.

In the last hearing, the case was adjourned indefinitely after Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan assured the CJP that the military trials would not proceed without informing the apex court.