KARACHI: Key civil and military officials in Sindh scheduled a meeting for Thursday (today) to finalise a plan to initially establish military courts in three major cities of the province as President Mamnoon Hussain signed the 21st Constitutional Amendment Bill of 2015 and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act, 1952 into law on Wednesday, sources said.

While there was no official word on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, the sources said the provincial home department had prepared an agenda that would be discussed and a strategy finalised at the event.

“Military courts are likely to be set up in Karachi’s Malir Cantt, Panu Aqil and Hyderabad,” said a source citing the agenda and proposal prepared by the home department for the meeting.

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“It has been proposed that all cases being heard by the antiterrorism courts would be transferred to the military courts. Naturally, the cases registered after their constitution would move to the military courts automatically.”

He said the Sindh authorities had prepared a 15-point agenda to be discussed at the meeting to finalise the ‘Sindh Action Plan’ following the National Action Plan approved by the federal government with the consent of parliamentary parties.

“The chief minister will head the Sindh Action Plan. The idea to establish a body under the chief minister has been developed to create a kind of consistent check and source of consistent feedback from the relevant institutions, including law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” said the source.

The source was not aware of the number of military courts being set up initially in the province, saying the particular issue was likely to be discussed at the meeting. These courts were likely to be set up in the respective cantonment areas for better security arrangements.

President Hussain signed the 21st Constitutional Amendment Bill after the presidency received the bills late on Tuesday night from the parliament secretariat. After the president’s signature, the law ministry notified on Wednesday the official gazette of Pakistan.

Parliament on Tuesday adopted the 21st Constitutional Amendment Bill and The Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2015 unopposed after 247 members of the National Assembly and 78 members of the Senate voted in favour of the laws meant to set up constitutionally protected military courts to try civilian suspects of terrorism.

“Since the new law has come into effect, the managerial and administrative process at the provincial level has been expedited,” said the source. “The provincial authorities are busy devising a final strategy with feedback from all the institutions concerned, mainly the law and home departments. The Thursday meeting is likely to give some shape to this strategy.”

A meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday presided over by Interior Minister Chaudary Nisar Ali Khan, the source said, stressed implementation of the National Action Plan at the provincial level. Besides officials from the National Counter Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency, National Crisis and Management Cell and intelligence agencies, senior officers of the provincial home departments, including Sindh, also attended the meeting, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2015

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