The Supreme Court on Thursday conditionally allowed military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts in cases about civilians held for their alleged involvement in the May 9 riots.
It directed that judgements be announced in cases where the nominated suspects could be released before Eid.
The court issued the directives as it heard a set of intra-court appeals (ICAs) against its Oct 23 unanimous ruling nullifying the military trials of civilians involved in the May 9 riots.
A six-member bench — led by Justice Aminuddin Khan and including Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Azhar Hasan Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan — presided over the proceedings.
The case pertains to the trial of more than 100 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the riots that followed ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 last year.
In a widely praised ruling last year, a five-member SC bench—comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Ayesha Malik—unanimously declared that trying the accused civilians in military courts was ultra vires the Constitution.
