ICC Note:

Pakistan’s Senate just approved a two-year extension for Pakistan’s military court system. Military courts were first established in 2015 after a December 2014 terrorist attack on an army school that killed over 140 people. Military courts allowed Pakistan to try militants who might avoid punishment in a weak judicial system. The courts were held in secret and often administered death sentences to anyone brought to court. Such a court system allows Pakistan to avoid international scrutiny.  

 3/29/2017 Pakistan (Anadolu Agency) – Pakistani Senate approved the extension of controversial military courts for another two years by a two-thirds majority in the capital Islamabad Tuesday, according to state-run Pakistan Television.

A total of 78 out of 104 senators voted in the upper house of parliament in favor of the 28th constitutional amendment bill seeking extension of the courts.

Only three members had opposed the bill, while remaining 23 either abstained or did not attend the session.

The right-wing political party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, and the left-wing, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Balochistan National Party opposed the bill.

The parliament’s lower house, National Assembly, had already passed the amendment last week with a two-thirds majority.

The bill will now go to the president’s office for final approval — a move considered a mere formality in Pakistan, lawyer Ismat Mehdi told Anadolu Agency.

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