{"id":98,"date":"2014-12-31T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/2014\/12\/31\/chief-justice-r-terms-military-courts-unconstitutional\/"},"modified":"2014-12-31T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-31T08:30:00","slug":"chief-justice-r-terms-military-courts-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/chief-justice-iftikhar-muhammad-chaudhry\/chief-justice-r-terms-military-courts-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Chief Justice (r) terms military courts unconstitutional."},"content":{"rendered":"
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ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court\u2019s former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional to set up military courts.
\u201cIndependent judiciary is already present in the country so there is no need for military courts. Such courts are illegal because the basic structure of the constitution guarantees an independent judiciary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Justice Iftikhar was talking to journalists at the residence of High Court Bar Association\u2019s former secretary general Siddique Awan after condoling the death of his father-in-law.
After the terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, parliamentary parties have decided to set up special military courts headed by army officers to try terror suspects.<\/p>\n

In reply to a question, the former chief justice said that even if law was amended it would be against the basic structure of the constitution. Parliamentarians could not change the basic structure of the constitution, he added.
\u201cIf government wants speedy trial of terror suspects it should increase the number of judges and courts. Courts cannot be blamed for a delay in dispensing justice. Courts only give decisions but it is the job of the administration to implement the orders,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Talking to Dawn, Lahore High Court Bar Association\u2019s former president Sheikh Ahsanuddin, who accompanied the former chief justice, said military courts were against the basic principal of the constitution as well as independence of judiciary.
There are two judgments of the Supreme Court \u2013 Sheikh Liaquat Ali versus the federation and Mehram Ali versus the federation in 1999 \u2013 against the establishment of military courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that even if the parliamentarians amend the law and set up military courts, they (courts) will be rejected by the Supreme Court if someone challenges them in the court,\u201d Mr Ahsanuddin said.
Moreover, he added, there were already three acts \u2013 Suppression of Terrorist Activities (Special Courts) Act, 1975; The Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997; and Protection of Pakistan Act, 2014 \u2013 which dealt with terrorism. \u201cThere is no requirement for military courts because these three acts fully address all issues relating to terrorism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said civil courts had so far announced as many as 8,400 death penalties while military courts only 18. \u201cIt shows that the performance of civil courts is much better than military courts.\u201d
He said he believed that \u201cwe are heading towards civil marshal law by establishing military courts\u201d.<\/p>\n

link: http:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1154157\/ex-cj-terms-military-courts-unconstitutional<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday said the establishment of military courts in the country to try terror suspects in the presence of an independent judiciary is unnecessary and unconstitutional.
The former chief justice was speaking to media representatives in the federal capital. \u201cMilitary courts are illegal and unconstitutional. The basic structure of the Constitution guarantees an independent judiciary, and military courts cannot be established in the presence of an independent judiciary,\u201d Iftikhar Chaudhry said.<\/p>\n

The former chief justice said no amendment or law can be made by the lawmakers which challenges the fundamental basis of the Constitution.He said the judiciary is not responsible for any delay in terrorism-related cases. However, he said, the existing judicial system should be strengthened.
Iftikhar Chaudhry said he would move the court against the allegations levelled by PTI chief Imran Khan against him. However, he refused to comment on the accusations levelled by the PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi.The former chief justice also refused to offer any comment on the high treason case against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, saying that the matter is sub judice.<\/p>\n

link: http:\/\/www.thenews.com.pk\/Todays-News-13-34992-Military-courts-not-needed-in-presence-of-free-judiciary-Iftikhar<\/a><\/span>
photograph: http:\/\/www.movementforruleoflaw.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court\u2019s former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional to set…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-98","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-chief-justice-iftikhar-muhammad-chaudhry","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiefjusticeblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}