Pakistan is a democratic Islamic country. According to
constitution of Pakistan, the official name of the country is Islamic Republic of Pakistan; however
the democracy and implementation of Islamic laws in the country has been
questioned mark from its inception. The development of military courts and recent
protests against execution of Mumtaz Qadri are a few examples which have questioned
the form of government and awareness of Islamic laws in the country.
Military courts are the special courts headed by the army
setup to achieve some national level agendas. They were first established on
October 17, 1979 when General Zia ul Haq took over the country in military coup
and abolished the first elected government.
The courts were set up second time by Pakistan Mulsim League Nawaz
(PML-N) in year 1998 in order to reduce escalating turmoil in Sindh,
particularly in Karachi. Interestingly, the courts were established again in
year 2015 under the government of PML-N for two years and are been revised for
one more year to obliterate terrorism from country.
Dec 16, 2014 is marked as deadliest day in the history of
Pakistan as it witnessed 9/11 in the shape of terrorist’s attack on the Army
Public School (APS) Peshawar leading to death of 145 people, including 132
school going children. A swift response was made by military as well as
political leadership after school attack. General Raheel Shareef (GRS) visited
Afghanistan day next to attack on school to ensure collaboration of Afghan
government and NATO with Pakistan’s government on war against terrorism, while
the political leadership came-up with 20 points National Action Plan (NAP) on
24th of December in order to
eradicate terrorism.
The consensus of political parties on National Action Plan
(NAP) paved the foundation of Twenty First Constitutional (amendment) Bill,
2015 in order to establish military courts. The 21st amendment in
the constitution allowed the amendments in the Pakistan Army Act, 1952,
Pakistan Air Force Act, 1952 And Pakistan Navy Act, 1952 to legalize the establishment
of military courts.
Continuous development
and operations of such courts in a democratic country has created weird and
chaos environment among all segments of society particularly in political and
judiciary. Political parties being direct victim of military courts after
terrorists initially tried hard to stop foundation of such courts but went
fail, after all establishment of such courts in the democratic country was a blow
for endorsers of famous slogan ‘democracy
is a best revenge’ and ‘democracy
must prevail’. The political party
Muttahida Qomi Movement (MQM) was first to show her grievance against courts on
December 24, 2014 her leader Altaf Hussain said that ‘it is better to impose
Martial Law in Pakistan than to set-up Military Courts’. The party of Molana Fazul Rehman (JUI-F) and
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) refrained from voting on 21st Amendment Bill because
they believed that amendment links the terrorism with religion. The current post all parties press conference (APC)
by Asif Zaradri in Islamabad on March 4th, 2017 also raveled the
fear of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) about revision of military courts for one
year, he said, ‘Dr. Asim is a victim’.
Nevertheless, military courts have also questioned the
efficiency of civilian judicial system of Pakistan. Creating a separate
parallel judicial system will certainly affect already established system in a
negative manner. The military courts and their establishment have signaled weak
functioning and slow processing of civilian courts. On same time it can also be
assumed that governance in the country is poor and government is helpless to
bring judicial reforms thus military courts were established.
There is no secret in it that Pakistani civilian courts have
themselves been target of terror just few months prior to Peshawar school
attack. The establishment of military courts was supposed to be solution of
this all and it was said that quick punishment and execution of terrorist by
these courts will not let allow tragedies like Peshawar school attack and attack
on Islamabad district court, happen again.
It is no doubt in it that military courts performed well in terms of
execution of many hardcore terrorist but what about the fear of military courts
to terrorist? Recent wave of terrorism in month of February, 2017 in which more
than 150 innocent people including forces personnel were killed in 10 series
attacks witnessed that establishment such courts did not terrorize to
terrorist.
The present scenario of Pakistan has proved that neither
military courts not democratic leaders have capability to eliminate terror from
Pakistani society and people. Even if they have they are unwilling to stabilize
conditions of country. There is need to empower civilian judicial system of
Pakistan so that a common people can also get quick justice from courts. Unless
common people get justices it will not contribute in strengthening of
democracy, with pure and true democracy institutions will be strong and
governance will be improved which is true defeat of extremism and terrorism in
the country.
The same has been published by PakObserver on March 21, 2017
The same has been published by PakObserver on March 21, 2017
