Session 5; Civilian vs Military Justice?

“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.”

Groucho Marx

The recent wave of terrorist attacks on the Pakistani soil have prompted the state to enact Military courts to try terrorists. Military courts as a concept should be despised in a civilized and democratic state which has pledged to uphold the constitutional values, but then why were these reactionary and knee jerk measures unanimously supported in Pakistan? Is Pakistan not a civilized and democratic state? Has it not pledged to uphold the constitution? 

Well the answer has less to do with the questions posed above then the fact that the criminal justice system in Pakistan has failed miserably. The people have lost faith in the Judicial organ’s ability to try and sentence terrorists. The people are no longer concerned about the intricacies of constitutionalism and due process of law and are willing to “ trade judges for soldiers” like the esteemed Saad Rasool put it, for the speedy dispensation of Justice even if it means cutting some corners.

To better understand why the judicial system has failed we need to look at some of the problems plaguing the Judiciary. For starters their is a massive backlog of cases, aided by the fact that there is a dearth of judges. The police is too incompetent to properly collect and present evidence in the court of law and the state’s prosecution is more often than not, weak. But the final responsibility of reforming the judicial system lies firmly on the Superior Judiciary’s shoulders. They have failed to bring about reform in the Judicial system which considering the influence the post 'restoration of Iftikhar Chaudhry' Judiciary enjoyed is a prime example of criminal negligence. 

According to a study of the Public Policy Review Centre (PPRC) it is stated that in 16 high profile terrorist cases in Islamabad and Rawalpindi , the courts have not convicted a single person. In addition know terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Abdul Aziz were set free by the courts. 

Post Peshawar, the State has shown unprecedented resolve in trying to eradicate terror from Pakistan but lets hope that this resolve does not wither away, like most good things in Pakistan have.