Militant cases’ transfer procedure explained to PHC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was told on Tuesday that the cases of hardcore militants from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were being transferred to military courts through proper procedure.

Deputy Attorney General Musaratullah Khan submitted in the high court the government’s notification about the procedure and steps for transferring the cases of alleged terrorists to the military courts.

The federal government submitted the notification after the court wanted to know how the cases were transferred to the military courts. As per the record submitted in the court, three types of cases were being transferred to the military courts. These included those of under trial in the Anti-Terrorism Courts, cases under investigation and new ones.

The court was informed that the government had adopted 10 steps for transferring the cases of the militants to military courts. First the relevant local police in a province identify the cases falling under the categories related to terrorism and other categories mentioned in the amendments to the Army Act.

The police transfer these identified cases to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) for examination. The CTD examines each case and forwards it to the inspector general of police (IGP) along with recommendations and complete record.

As per the record, the IGP then constitutes a committee consisting of respective additional inspectors general of investigation, prosecution and operations for examination of cases and sends them to the Home Department.

The Home Department of respective province then constitutes a committee comprising secretary Home as chairman and members, including secretary law, director general prosecution, representatives of the CTD, intelligence agencies and Judge Advocate General Branch. After examination and scrutiny, the Home Department forwards the cases to Apex Committee of the province with the recommendations.

In the next step, the apex committee of the province transfers the cases along with the documents/recommendations of the provincial government, including recommendations of the apex committee to the Ministry of Interior.

The Ministry of Interior forwards its final recommendations to the minister for interior for approval in each case. The General Headquarters (GHQ) through MO Directorate then initiates the trial in the military court. The provinces nominate prosecutor in each case by name and liaison officer for prosecution of record and witnesses before the trial court. The implementation, monitoring and coordination with the provincial government about these cases are done by the Ministry of Interior.