- Out of 274 cases referred to military courts, 161 were awarded death penalty while 113 were awarded imprisonment of varying duration
RAWALPINDI, January 8: A total of 274 cases were referred to Military Courts out of which 161 were awarded death penalty while 113 were awarded imprisonment of varying duration, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the statement, 12 terrorists have been executed thus far since the establishment of the courts.
“Military Courts were established through a constitutional amendment in the environment of heightened terrorism. The routine judicial system was under stress wherein judicial set-ups/judges were also subjected to act of terrorism. Therefore, special constitutional arrangements were made to effectively check the terrorists /terrorism”, the statement added.
ISPR further said that the disposal through military courts has yielded positive effects towards reduction in terrorist’s activities. The military courts have ceased to function on expiry of the mandated page period.
Pakistan’s political leadership, days after the Army Public School Peshawar attack that left over 140 people – majority children – dead in December 2014, had agreed to set up military courts for two years to cope with the scourge of terrorism that claimed thousands of lives over the recent years.
Representatives of political parties had then unanimously approved a resolution during a meeting of parliamentary parties chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.The resolution had called for extraordinary measures in the face of what the political leadership dubbed as extraordinary circumstances.-Agencies
