Pak lawmakers vote for military courts to try insurgents

FE Team | Published: January 07, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

ISLAMABAD, Jan 6 (agencies): Pakistani lawmakers Tuesday passed legislation for military courts to try insurgents, one of a raft of measures aimed at clamping down on increasingly brutal attacks after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 children last month.
The bill secured the unanimous vote of the 242 lawmakers present, 14 more than the two-thirds majority it required. Lawmakers from religious parties and an opposition party led by former cricketer Imran Khan abstained.
The law is now expected to be passed by the upper house and signed into law by the president this week.
It will stay on the books for two years, allowing military courts to try anyone accused of terrorism offences.
Most politicians in Pakistan agree that military courts must be used to curb Taliban attacks because civilian courts are too cowed and corrupt to jail militants.
But some have raised concerns about the dramatic expansion of military powers in the coup-prone country.
The army is often accused of only targeting groups that stage attacks in Pakistan while tolerating others focused on neighbors India and Afghanistan.
The courts will have a limited mandate, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said last week.
 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced the plan after militants gunned down 134 children and 16 adults at the Peshawar school last month.
He also ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases, and several people have since gone to the gallows.
Members of the main opposition joined the ruling party Tuesday to pass the measure, which now goes to the upper house.
"The bitter pill of this new law is being swallowed for the security of Pakistan," said Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, opposition leader in the lower house.
The measure was approved after 247 legislators-more than a two-thirds majority-voted to amend the constitution to allow for military courts to be set up.
Members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazal group) abstained.
"We were not taken into confidence when the amendments were being made," JUI (F) chief Fazalur Rehman told reporters at parliament.
"The story of 9/11 is being repeated here," he said, referring to September 11, 2011 attacks on the United States.
"After 9/11 Muslims were being targeted and the same thing is being done in the name of constitutional amendment.
"Some forces are trying to initiate a war between religious and secular forces in the country," he said.
Members of the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan were not present as their resignations are pending with the speaker. He alleges that last year's general election which brought Sharif back to power was rigged.
Apart from the religious parties, some moderate political parties and members of the intelligentsia have criticised the military courts plan.
The leading English-language newspaper Dawn termed it a "sad day" in an editorial Tuesday.
It accused political leaders of being unable to defend the country's constitutional and democratic roots or resist the "generals' demands".
"Yes, we need a coherent strategy to fight militancy and political and military leaders to work together. But military courts are not the answer," Dawn said.
In the country's largest city Karachi Tuesday, two paramilitary soldiers were killed and a passer-by injured during a raid on a hideout of Taliban militants.
Police said the raid followed an intelligence report that the insurgents were hiding in a house in the Khurramabad neighbourhood of Landhi district.
"The militants opened fierce gunfire while the paramilitary troops were raiding the house, killing at least two soldiers," a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Police officer Akhtar Farooq said seven people-two women, two children, two men and the owner of the house-were taken into custody for further investigation.
He said empty shells from 9mm pistols and Kalashnikovs and some improvised explosive devices were found in the house.