ISLAMABAD – Military courts, which were set up under the National ActionPlan (NAP) in 2015 to try civilians on terrorism charges, ceased tofunction on Sunday following the expiry of their second two-yearconstitutional term.
The government has already made the decision to give another extension oftwo years to the military courts. However, it lacks the support ofopposition parties over the issue as it does not have the requiredtwo-thirds majority in any of the two houses of the Parliament to carry outthe constitutional amendment for the purpose.
In its effort to generate consensus on the issue, the government hadplanned a meeting of parliamentary heads of opposition parties on March 28.However, due to the prevailing tense political situation, the oppositionparties boycotted the meeting which led to its cancellation.
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While there is no official data available about the cases tried by themilitary courts, the National Assembly was informed in November last yearthat the military authorities had to decide 185 terrorism-related casesbefore expiry of their two-year term in March.
