Military courts expire today, no extension expected

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that no suggestion pertaining to extension in time period of military courts has been under consideration.

The statement comes hours before the expiry of 21st Amendment, which allowed formation of military courts to try civilian suspects of terrorism for a period of two years.

Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf has already said that terrorism-related cases will now be forwarded to Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs), as the term for military courts expires on January 7.

Sources with the Ministry of Interior told Geo News that from tomorrow, around 160 cases being tried in the military courts will be handed over to ATCs.

Pakistan’s political leadership, days after the Army Public School Peshawar attack that left over 140 people — majority children — dead in December 2014, had agreed to set up military courts for two years to cope with the scourge of terrorism that claimed thousands of lives over the recent years.

Representatives of political parties had then unanimously approved a resolution during a meeting of parliamentary parties chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The resolution had called for extraordinary measures in the face of what the political leadership dubbed as extraordinary circumstances.