Top Court suspends PHC’s release order of 196 alleged terrorists

The Supreme Court (SC) suspended on Tuesday the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order for the release of 196 alleged terrorists.  According to the details, Justice Mushir Alam headed the three member bench, the top court suspended the PHC’s order which set aside convictions of the prisoners and also ordered their release.

The Top Court has sought record of the cases of the 196 alleged terrorists from the federal government.

The top court has also issued notices to the federal government and other parties involved.

During the hearing, Justice Qazi Amin remarked that after the trial by the military courts, the convicts were sentenced. Each case has its own evidence and facts.

The court inquired whether the convicts were in jails after the release order. The Additional Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that the convicts have not been released yet.

The Additional Attorney General requested that the decision of the Peshawar High Court be suspended.

However the case related to the release of the convicts will be heard again on Friday.

Case History

Military courts had sentenced 196 people for different offenses. The punishments handed down to them included death sentence, life imprisonment and up to 10 years in prison on various charges.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth and Justice Naeem Anwar heard more than 300 petitions.

The High Court had ordered that if all these persons were not wanted in any other case, they should be released.

The detailed verdict said that the accused were not given a chance for a transparent trial.

In addition to this, the detail verdict also said rules 82, 83 and 87 of the Pakistan Army, which can be read with Rules 23 and 24, clearly state that a person whose case is pending in a military court is allowed to have a lawyer to defend him.

However, it was not implemented.