ISLAMABAD , July 17, 2023: The government on Monday again requested the Supreme Court to form a full bench to hear the matter concerning the military trial of those in the May 9 violence and contended that the petitions against the move were not maintainable.
In a 31-page reply submitted with the apex court, the government said the May 9 events were targeted attacks on military installations and establishments across the country in an organized and coordinated manner. The attacks were neither localized nor isolated, it added.
Describing the violence against as a direct attack on the national security of Pakistan, the reply read that Pakistan’s constitutional framework allowed to hold trial of the perpetrators of such vandalism and violence under the provisions of the Army Act as a deterrence.
Both the Army Act and the Official Secret Act had been part of the Constitution and were never challenged, the document read, the government said.
Therefore, the government is of the opinion that apex court should not hear the matter directly as the steps taken under the Army Act and the Official Secret Act are legal and constitutional in their nature.
Citing that Justice Yahya Afridi has already given his opinion that the matter should be placed before a full court, the government in its reply also noted that the right to move the high court concerned enjoyed by the accused could be affected if the Supreme Court opted to reject the petitions.