QUETTA: The Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) has opposed the proposal to set up military courts, saying such courts are in violation of political and democratic principles.

BNP-M spokesperson Agha Hasan Baloch said in a statement on Thursday it was an irony that `champions of democracy and human rights’ had all joined hands for setting up of military courts in the presence of civilian courts.

He claimed that the idea of super courts headed by military officers was the brainchild of the establishment because it wanted to control political authority in order to undermine the voice of democratic and political forces.

The BNP-M said that real democratic forces of the country would never allow parliament to make anti-democratic amendment in the Constitution only to appease the powerful establishment.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014