On February 21, Tuesday, the Herald has invited two renowned lawyers, Hina Jilani and Farooq Adam Khan, to conduct a live blog session about the history of military trials, their relevance or otherwise for the present and whether they are capable of conducting fair, impartial, rules-based trials that allow the accused full hearing under the internationally established principles of justice. The discussion assumes special importance in the increasing case of Pakistanis, both military-men and civilians, being taken away, investigated and tried by the security agencies without so much as a nod to the laws of the land. We invite you to pose your questions to our experts in either of the two time-slots.

February 21, 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm (PST) Hina Jilani is a human rights activist and a founding member of both the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Women's Action Forum. She was a member of the UN fact finding mission to Gaza in 2009 and a contributor to the subsequent Goldstone report. Jilani has been practising law since 1979, having also started Pakistan’s first all women law firm in 1980.

February 21, 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm (PST) Farooq Adam Khan is a leading Supreme Court lawyer based in Peshawar who has seen military trials both as an accused and as a defence counsel. He began his professional career in the military and was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat in the 1965 war before he was tried for what is known in the history as the Attock conspiracy of 1973 – a plan to overthrow the then government by a group of middle-ranking army officers. His conviction in the case cut short his military career but it allowed him to train as a lawyer. A few years earlier, he also worked as the Prosecutor General of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Questions can also be e-mailed beforehand to letters.herald@dawn.com