THIS refers to the article ‘Banking on military justice’ (March 8) by Zahid Husain on the issue of outsourcing the important responsibility of justice to the military.

What is the use of so many judicial officers when they cannot discharge their duties? Why don’t we align our judicial system with the military, which is known for quick and timely delivery of justice?

Isn’t it unfair and hypocritical on our part that on the one hand, we decry military interventions and then, on the other, we burden them with more responsibilities? Why did we fail to deliberate on the restructuring of our criminal justice system?

Our politicians have miserably failed to live up to their lofty promises and they must not malign the military for their sheer ineptitude. Amid many mind-boggling versions, we have been fed with stories that it is military which desperately wants the revival of the military courts.

But politicians skillfully hide their own lack of will and interest in revamping the judicial system. Isn’t it sheer negligence to deliberately ignore the issue? Is it only the military which should fight the war on terror?

If the military justice system lacks openness, is against the established principles of the international law and the general jurisprudence of our own courts, why then do our parliament and senate pay lip-service to the issue? Why don’t we fix responsibilities and move on? Why do we prove to our enemies that we are wilful fools?

Muhammad Arif Khan

Lahore

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017