Supreme Court Rejects Plea to Suspend Civilian Trials in Military Courts, Fines Former Chief Justice

Islamabad: The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench has rejected a request to suspend hearings of cases in military courts until a decision on the 26th Constitutional Amendment is made. The bench also imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 on former Chief Justice Jawad S. Khawaja.
The case concerned the trial of civilians in military courts, with former Chief Justice Khawaja and senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan filing a petition to defer hearings until the petitions challenging the 26th Constitutional Amendment are decided.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi referred the matter of forming a full court to hear the petitions against the 26th Constitutional Amendment to the committee responsible for constitutional benches.
The committee, led by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, will decide on the composition of the constitutional bench that will hear the petitions against the amendment.