On December 13, a six-judge Supreme Court bench, led by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and including Justices Aminuddin Khan, Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali, and Irfan Saadat Khan, is set to address intra-court appeals (ICAs) challenging the unanimous Oct 23 verdict. The earlier ruling declared the trial of 103 civilians in military courts for their alleged involvement in the May 9 violence as unconstitutional.
The ICAs were filed by the federal government, the defense ministry, and the governments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. They request the suspension of the Oct 23 verdict during the pendency of the ICAs.
The October 23 decision by a five-judge bench, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, determined that the cases of those involved in the May 9 riots would not be tried in military courts but in criminal courts of competent jurisdiction under ordinary or special law.
However, the composition of the upcoming bench has sparked concerns, notably raised by senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui. He expressed reservations about the even number of judges on the bench, advocating for an odd number, as per past court practices. Siddiqui plans to address this issue during the Dec 13 hearing, questioning the potential deadlock if the judges are evenly split.
Siddiqui also questioned Justice Sardar Tariq Masood’s role as the head of the bench, given his earlier expression of opinion in a note issued on July 4 during the initial litigation. Justice Masood was originally part of the nine-judge bench hearing challenges to military courts but later chose not to sit on the bench, citing concerns about its constitution. In the note, he argued against the maintainability of petitions challenging military court trials.
The detailed reasoning behind the Oct 23 judgment is yet to be released.
In related developments, the Supreme Court released minutes of meetings held by a committee of three senior judges, including Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan. The committee, formed under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, discussed the constitution of a larger bench to hear intra-court appeals regarding the trial of civilians under the Pakistan Army Act 1952 (PAA).
The committee also decided that the registrar’s office would determine the maintainability of appeals/petitions, and non-maintainable cases would be heard by the concerned judge in his chamber. Additionally, the committee shared plans to discuss draft procedure rules on January 4 in their next meeting, while regular civil and criminal benches would continue hearing pending cases based on a first-come, first-served basis.
