The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Friday expressed serious concerns over the trial of civilians in military courts.
"This Council ever struggled for the Rule of Law and supremacy of Constitution in the Country," stated a press statement issued by PBC, the apex body of lawyers in the country.
In the statement, PBC Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha and PBC Vice-Chairman Haroon-ur-Rashid expressed serious concerns over the trial of civilians in military courts.
The council said that it has great respect and honour for state institutions and always believes that the trust of the public at large should never be shaken in constitutional institutions of the country.
However, they reiterated the PBC's principled stance that civilians should not be tried in military courts and that it was a consistent view of the various bar councils and bar associations that ordinarily, no civilians should be persecuted or tried under the provisions of the Army Act.
They further said that a civilised society cannot tolerate the trial of civilians in military courts. Trying civilians in military courts would be a violation of their fundamental rights, and such acts will have far-reaching implications for society and a question on the capacity and credibility of civil courts in Pakistan.
They urged that every under-trial individual is afforded the opportunity of due process of law and a fair trial as enshrined in Articles 4 and 10A of the Constitution of Pakistan.