Pakistan Highest Court approves formation of Military Court to try terrorists

ISLAMABAD: A 17-member full court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasirul Mulk upheld the 21st Constitutional Amendment with a majority decision of 11 to 6.
The court also dismissed petitions challenging the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act (Act X of 2010) by a majority of 14 to 3. The court by a majority of 11 to 6 also dismissed the constitutional petitions challenging the Constitution (Twenty-first Amendment) Act (Act 1 of 2015) and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act (Act 11 of 2015).
The over 900-page judgement was authored by the chief justice of Pakistan. The short order was announced in the Court Room Number 1. The senior most judge after the chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, and some others who dissented with their brother judges, also wrote a dissenting note.
The court, in its detailed verdict, stated that in view of the respective opinions recorded before the apex court, by a majority of 13 to 4, the constitution petitions are held to be maintainable.
However, by a majority of 14 to 3, the constitution petitions challenging the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act (Act X of 2010) are dismissed, while by a majority of 11 to 6, the constitution petitions challenging the Constitution (Twenty-first Amendment) Act (Act I of 2015) and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act (Act II of 2015) are dismissed.
The detailed verdict stated that by the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act (Act X of 2010), parliament brought about extensive amendments to the constitution. A number of petitions under Article 184(3) of the constitution were filed in this court, challenging some of the amendments, mainly, articles 1(2)(a), 17(4), 51(6)(e), 63A, 226, 267A and 175A. Arguments were addressed in all these matters before the full court in the months of June, July, August and September 2010. The primary focus of the arguments, particularly in the petitions filed on behalf of various bar associations was on the change introduced through Article 175A whereby an entirely new procedure for the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, high courts and Federal Shariat Court through the judicial commission was introduced.