Country still needs military courts, says Fawad Ch
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Minister for Information Fawad Ch has said that the country still needs military courts.
In an interview with BBC, Fawad Chaudhry said that the extension in the military courts depends on consensus among the political parties.
“The term of these military courts will be extended if the government succeeds in evolving consensus among political parties. The government is trying to create political consensus over it. If the [other] political parties feel there is no need for [another] extension then there won’t be [another] extension,” the minister said.
“The establishment of military courts was an extraordinary step taken in extraordinary circumstances. We believe the military courts delivered successfully. There is still need of them. We are very close to defeating terrorism completely and we believe extension in their term is mandatory. It would be good if they are extended again, but obviously it won’t be possible if there is no national consensus like there was at the time of the NAP,” Fawad Ch added.
After the APS tragedy, the military courts were set up under the National Action Plan (NAP) in 2015 to try civilians on terrorism charges. Initially, the military courts were established for two years. In March 2017, the Nawaz government extended them for more two years through the 23rd constitutional amendment.
The government had convened a meeting of opposition parties to discuss the matter, but it had to be canceled due to boycott of the opposition parties.
According to statistics submitted to the National Assembly, the Interior Ministry had sent over 700 terrorism cases to military courts. Of theem, 478 cases have been decided and 284 accused awarded death sentence.
