Caretaker CM Maqbool Baqar denied filing appeal to the SC verdict on military trials

The interim government of Sindh on Saturday denied filing any appeal over the Supreme Court’s decision against trials of civilians in the military courts.

“The Sindh government has not filed any appeal to the Supreme Court on military trials. The [claims] are baseless,” said interim Chief Minister Maqbool Baqar’s spokesperson.

The caretaker federal government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on Friday against the decision of a five-member bench that had declared the trials of civilians under the Pakistan Army Act 1952 as unconstitutional.

Earlier, the mainstream media reported that the provinces of Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, through their respective chief secretaries; and the government, through the secretary of the defence ministry, were named respondents in the case.

A statement from the Chief Minister’s House issued today said that the impression that the Sindh government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court for the trial of civilians in military courts is baseless.

The Supreme Court verdict about civillians trials in military courts

On October 23, a five-judge SC bench, comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Ayesha Malik, declared that trying civilians in military courts — for their alleged role in the attacks on army installations during the riots that followed PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest  — was unconstitutional.

It also ordered that the civilians booked for the violence on May 9 and 10 this year should be tried under the ordinary criminal laws.

The section in the Pakistan Army Act 1952 which allowed for the trial of civilians in military courts has been declared as unconstitutional. Civilians in military custody will be tried in the ordinary criminal courts.