Parliament to Decide Military Courts’ Extension: DG ISPR

Major General Asif Ghafoor on Friday (Jan 18) the director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) , during an interview with a private news channel, said that Military courts are not the wish of the Pakistan Army but a need of the country adding it is up to parliament to decide if an extension should be granted to military courts.

The tenure of military courts, which were established after the 2014 Peshawar attack, is set to expire in March. “The decision on military courts’ extension rests with parliament,” General Asif Ghafoor said. “We will do what parliament tells us,” he said, adding that even previous extensions to military courts were given by the public representatives, and the decision has to be taken with consensus. . “It was decided through a national consensus that military courts should be established and death penalty be revived,” he said.

The DG ISPR said there was a transparent system through which the cases were transferred to military courts. “These cases have no link with missing persons,” he asserted. “Military courts have sent a clear message to terror outfits, militants and their handlers that they can be punished,” he said. The Army spokesperson said 646 of the 717 cases in the military courts in a four-year period were logically concluded. Some 345 terrorists were given death sentences, he added.