The Supreme Court (SC) constituted on Wednesday a nine-member bench — led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and including his successor-to-be Justice Qazi Faez Isa — to hear a set of four petitions challenging the trials of civilians in military courts.

Besides the two senior-most judges, Justices Sardar Tariq Masood, Ijazul Ahsan, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Justice, Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik are included in the bench.

According to the SC cause list, the bench will take up the four petitions tomorrow (Thursday) at 11:45am.

Multiple petitions have been filed in the SC after the army indicated that suspects booked in cases pertaining to the May 9 riots — during which several public and private properties, including military installations, were vandalised amid countrywide protests sparked by the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan — should be tried under army laws, which the government subsequently endorsed.

Petitioners in three of the pleas are the PTI chief himself, veteran politician Aitzaz Ahsan and former CJP Jawwad S. Khawaja.

A fourth plea has been filed by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research Chef Executive Karamat Ali, former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator Fahim Zaman Khan, Aurat Foundation Director Mahnaz Rahman, educationist Prof Dr AH Nayyar and clinical psychologist and educationist Syed Zulfiqar Hussain Gilani.

The riots

Protests had erupted on May 9 in various cities after the PTI chief was detained from the Islamabad High Court in the Al Qadir Trust case.

While the protests were under way, social media was flooded with footage of rioting and vandalism at various spots, including the Lahore Corps Commander’s residence.

Subsequently, the army had termed the day a “dark chapter” and announced around a week after the incidents its intent to try the rioters under relevant laws, including two military laws — the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act.

The decision was endorsed by the National Security Committee — the country’s principal decision-making forum on foreign policy and national security — a day later.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had clarified that only those accused of vandalising civilian infrastructures would be tried under the anti-terrorism law while those accused of vandalising military property would be put on trial under military laws.

So far, anti-terrorism courts have sanctioned the handing over of several suspects to the military for trial in cases relating to May 9 riots at least twice on applications submitted by officers of the armed forces.