ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: Government’s new ordere to include army officers as judges in special Anti-Terrorism Courts was criticized by many leaders and experts here on Friday.

The decree, issued by President Pervez Musharraf, provides for the inclusion of one army officer and two civilians in three-judge courts that will try offences classified as terrorism.

“We are against militarisation of courts,” said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The decree comes after official criticism of the existing Anti-Terrorist Courts for being slow in delivering judgments and says the new courts must decide a case within 15 days.

But a committee of the chief justices of superior courts said on Tuesday the delays had been caused by what it called the government’s failure to support the courts.

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, head of the 15-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), told Reuters he feared the army officers would prevail over civilian judges.

“It is against the rule of law and repugnant to justice that a case must be decided within 15 days,” he said, adding it would be impossible for the prosecution and defence to do their work in that much time. “In my opinion, it will bulldoze the system of justice,” he said.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the decree “violates the established principles of justice...and adds a new and serious hurdle in the way of restoring meaningful democracy and a just dispensation in the country”.

“If it is to demonstrate a true commitment to democratic principles, the regime must in fact relinquish the control it has over all institutions of state rather than acting to strengthen it,” the HRCP said in a statement.—Reuters