Islamabad, Pakistan – A senior Pakistani minister has defended the government’s decision to try civilians in military courts, calling the alleged attacks on military installations during recent protests an “act of rebellion against the state.”
Defense Minister Khawaja M Asif told Al Jazeera that the arrests of thousands of civilians over protests sparked by the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier this month were justified and alleged that army facilities were targeted intentionally.
“These people attacked their [the military’s] offices. Their homes were attacked. They attacked their facilities, such as air bases,” Asif said in an interview on Wednesday. “They planned it. It was not spontaneous. He must understand the seriousness of the offense, the seriousness of the events that took place.
Thousands of Khan supporters, angered by the arrest of Pakistan’s main opposition leader, took to the streets on May 9 and 10. Much of that anger was directed at the powerful military, which protesters accuse of orchestrating the arrest of their leader.
Several military buildings and installations were attacked, some set on fire, while clashes with security forces left at least 10 dead.
While Khan’s party says more than 10,000 people have been arrested and jailed as part of an unprecedented crackdown, the government says it has arrested more than 4,000 people involved in riots and vandalism by using surveillance technology to track them. .
The government had said it would try the protesters under the Army Law, sparking outrage from human rights groups. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later insisted that only those who attacked army infrastructure would be tried under military law.
When it was passed in 1952, the Army Act was used primarily to try military personnel before military courts. Later amendments also allowed civilians accused of certain crimes to be tried by military courts.
If convicted by a military court, defendants have the right to appeal within 40 days to a military court of appeal. If the defendants still believe that they did not receive a fair trial, they may appeal to the higher court of the jurisdiction in which they were tried.
On Thursday, an anti-terror court in the eastern city of Lahore approved the handover of 16 defendants, including a former lawmaker from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, to face trial in a military court. It is not clear when the proceedings will begin.
Asif defended the decision to try civilians in military courts, saying the government will ensure transparency during the trials.
“There will be absolute transparency in these cases,” he said. “There are three layers of appeals that go through the army chief, the high court and then the Supreme Court.”
But rights groups have raised concerns. Last week the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, an independent civil rights group, strongly opposed the use of military law to try civilians.
“While those responsible for arson and damage to public and private property during the recent protests must be held to account, they continue to have the right to due process,” the group said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also urged the Pakistani government to respect the rights of those arrested during the protests.
The military has long been seen as the power broker in Pakistan, but Asif insisted it was the ruling alliance that called the shots in the ongoing crackdown on protesters. He accused the protesters of attacking the country.
“These people actually challenged the state. If it was against the political government, there was no problem. Criticizing and challenging the political government is perfectly fine, but these people singularly chose to attack army installations on May 9 and 10,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khan “thinks that his adversary is the Pakistani military and not any political party. If there was a military government or martial law, [can] challenge that, but not the institution [itself]”, said the minister.
Senator Faisal Javed Khan, a senior PTI leader, refuted Asif’s accusations, saying the only way to find out if the protesters are guilty is through an independent investigation by a judicial commission.
“Our position is very clear: when you carry out a free and fair investigation, you will find out that this riot was carried out by violent scoundrels who did not belong to the PTI people, and was done to damage the relationship between the PTI and the military,” he said. he said on Thursday.
Failed attempts
Asif insisted that the government has tried to resolve the political tension and has held at least three rounds of dialogue with the PTI.
“There was a solution,” he said. “There was an agreement between the two delegations. We offered them to hold elections in early October. Even the date was set. But Imran Khan refused to accept that. The PTI delegation showed their complete helplessness and said: ‘We fully agree with you, but our leader does not.’
Faisal Javed Khan said a date had not been agreed. He denied that the former prime minister and the PTI were at fault and questioned how negotiations could be carried out productively when authorities were raiding the homes of PTI leaders.
“This is pure hypocrisy,” the senator said. “If the government believes that there was a solution or a date was agreed, then why didn’t they disclose it then? The problem is not Khan or the party. It is about implementing and respecting the constitution.”
“How can you tell when our delegation team said categorically that no conclusion was reached,” he said.
Faisal Javed Khan said that the citizens of Pakistan know that the former prime minister respects the army and any attempt to ban the PTI would fail.
“Imran Khan has always said that Pakistan needs the army more than I do,” the senator said. “He has repeated in all forums that the army is the country’s need and must be respected.”
For decades, the military has faced accusations of violating its constitutional oath not to meddle in political affairs, particularly with regard to the Army Law.
The Minister of Defense acknowledged in the interview that the “exposure in the political sphere” of the military has harmed the country.
“There are many people who have damaged the state over the last 75 years: the judiciary, the politicians, the military leaders. We must name them to settle the accounts of history. There must be a trial, even if it is symbolic in nature,” Asif said.
“If there is no repentance, there is no atonement. … If you are seeking atonement, there must be some process where you can get rid of this baggage of history.”
