ISLAMABAD: Staying the execution of four military court convicts – including two men accused of involvement in the barbaric attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School in Dec 2014 – the Supreme Court ordered the federal government on Tuesday to explain whether their appeals, filed before an appellate forum, were still pending or had been decided.

A bench, consisting of Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, ordered Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt to inform the court what had happened to the convicts’ appeals before a military appellate forum, where they had challenged the death sentences awarded to them by a military court.

The court also directed the attorney general to provide even an unsigned copy of the sentencing order, without disclosing the names and designations of the authorities who convicted the accused.

The bench had taken up appeals against a Peshawar High Court verdict rejecting separate pleas moved by Taj Mohammad alias Rizwan and Ali Rehman. Both men were accused of facilitating the attack on the Army Public School.

The court also heard appeals moved by Mohammad Imran – involved in a 2014 attack on a checkpost in Bajaur – and Qari Zubair Mohammad, accused of involvement in the 2009 Nowshera cantonment mosque bombing.

Senior counsel Latif Afridi and Khalid Anwar Afridi argued the appeals. They lamented that the fate of the convicts’ appeals before the military appellate forum was not known, nor were the condemned men being allowed to meet their families.

The Supreme Court also issued notices to the Judge Advocate General – the legal wing of the armed forces – and postponed further proceedings until Feb 16, with directions to the court office to re­list the case before a three­judge bench instead of the current two­member bench.

“There should be some grounds in the conviction order so that the same can be attacked in the appeal by the accused,” the court observed.

In the appeal filed by Taj Mohammad alias Rizwan, it was claimed that the evidence against the accused was not recorded in his presence, nor was he given an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses.

It was indeed surprising and shocking for the family, especially Nek Maro – the mother and petitioner – when she heard the news of Rizwan’s sentencing. But she was unable to ascertain his whereabouts, despite approaching jail authorities in Peshawar and Haripur.

The appeal argued that the convict was blindfolded and taken away by army personnel. Though he was told he was being taken to a court, the accused never saw a court and nor was he aware of the presence of a judge, the appeal stated.

The accused was asked to put his thumb impression on a paper, but had no idea what it was, the appeal argued, adding that the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution were denied to him since he was never afforded any opportunity to engage a counsel.

Mohammad Imran, a madressah student from Karachi, was taken into custody by security forces from Mohmand Agency while on his way to Mardan in 2008. He was kept in detention under the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations 2011, but his trial took place after the 21st Amendment was passed.

He was missing since his arrest and his family learnt about his death sentence from a military court from a Peshawar­based newspaper on Sept 22 last year.

About Qari Zubair Mohammad, the appeal stated that he was picked up by security agencies from his house in 2009.

His family had also moved an application before the Commission of Inquiry of Enforced Disappearances, on the advice of which an FIR was lodged against police over his disappearance in 2012.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2016