Islamabad:
The Apex court has finally issued a written order, ordering the Anti -Terrorist Courts (ATC) to conclude the trial of accused persons involved in May 9 incidents within a period of four months.
However, the Court ordered the ATCs to ensure that the rights of the defendants to a fair trial should not be hindered in any way.
“We are aware of Subsection 7 of Section 19 of the 1997 Anti -Terrorism Law, when the trial must conclude within seven days by the Anti -Terrorist Courts, and the fact of not doing so implies the duty on the Anti -Terrorist Court to inform the Court of the Court of the corresponding High Court by appropriate directions,” says an order of three pages written in one in which he accelerated in the case of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the order of the caste of the Office of Apex.
“However, in the light of peculiar circumstances, in particular the large number of accused people, the multiplicity of cases that arise from cases of a similar nature reported separately and the considerable number of witnesses of prosecution, we directed that the trial in the case is concluded within a period of four months from the date of receipt of this order,” adds the order.
“We direct even more to the anti -terrorism court to ensure that the rights of the defendants respond to a fair trial should not be hindered in any way.”
Instead of deciding dozens of merit bail matters, the bank of three judges led by the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi has opted for the direction other than the ATCs to conclude the trials in the 9 cases of May within four months.
PTI’s legal team is already expressing apprehension by the order written by its probable misuse against accused people. The higher lawyers say that SC did not learn the lesson in the case of Panama in which there was a deadline to conclude the trials of the Sharif family. SC was later blamed for providing facilitation to condemn members of the Sharif family.
Previously, the Department of Prosecutor’s Office of Punjab filed a report at the Apex court in which Total 319 FIRS were registered in different provinces of Punjab. Up to 35,962 accused people were nominated in which 11,367 were arrested. 24,595 accused are released. The final Chalins are presented in 307 cases.
The order indicates that the court has been informed that, in some cases, the defendants have been nominated in multiple FIR, which leads to judgments, which are pending before several anti -terrorist courts.
“Consequently, it may not be possible to appear in person before all courts and, therefore, their exemption requests, if any, should be considered in accordance with the law.
“In the same way, we have also been informed that in some cases the defendants have not provided the copies of the position and the testimony of the witnesses of prosecution, who require them
“This aspect of the matter also requires the attention of the anti -terrorist courts. In addition, the complaints of the main courts of the higher courts and the administrative judges of the anti -terrorist courts.”
For the fulfillment of the instructions, the order said that the main provincial judges in question, if they consider appropriate, can call a biweekly report of the Anti -Terrorist Courts/Administrative Judges of the Anti -Terrorist Courts to ensure that the procedures are not expeditions and in accordance with the law, but also the rights to the rights of accidents are not only carried out in any way, they are carried out in any way.
However, this order will not prevent the Prosecutor’s Office from renewing its declaration of reference whether the bail or non -cooperation abuse by the accused is recorded, consequently, the power of the law is prevailing, says the order.
When commenting on the order, former Federal Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain says that the Supreme Court has worked, in this case, more as an administrative body than as judicial.
“In essence, the order issued is purely administrative and lacks judicial management. Each paragraph of the order contradicts others. For example, while a section requires the completion of the judgments within four months, another requires that the judges of ATC adhere to all the procedure requirements and guarantee the protection of the rights of the accused. This presents a clear dilemma: how few judges will involve the cases of 24,000.
Sameer Khosa, who was a lawyer of the accused, said that the concern has always been that the accused before the anti -terrorist courts should receive a fair trial.
“May 9 trials have been clearly used as a political engineering tool with those who leave a completely acquitted political party of all positions. In this situation it is clear that any independent and fair adjudication in these cases will surely absolve many of the defendants.”
Khosa also states that an address to conclude the judgments of the Supreme Court can have the tendency to encourage the anti -terrorist courts to trample the rights of the accused by not giving adequate time to interrogate and put a defense. This was filed before the Supreme Court and one can only expect the courts of first instance and the higher courts to implement the parties of the sentence that categorically establish that the rights of the accused are protected in every way, “says Sameer Khosa’s lawyer.
