Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Where are the records?

Judicial review cannot be conducted in the absence of the pertinent records. Consider this case, in which the Sindh High Court has so far failed in its efforts to compel the government to file the records of military court proceedings. Excerpt from The Daily Times:
Fuming at the authorities concerned for failing to produce the case files of three suspected facilitators of the Safoora Goth carnage in court, the Sindh High Court gave them a last chance to obey its orders. 
Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who headed a division bench, warned the authorities to obtain the case files from a military court and submit in the court on the next hearing or it would order their release on bail. 
The hearing was put off till Dec 29. 
The court was hearing the petitions filed the relatives of three suspects - former Fishermen Cooperative Society deputy director Sultan Qamar Siddiqui and his younger brother Hussain Umar Siddiqui and Naeem Sajid - against the jail authorities for not releasing them despite having been acquitted by the military court.
Meanwhile, the 21st Amendment, under which Pakistan's military courts have authority to try civilians, is due to expire on January 7, 2017, only 11 days hence. Will there be a last-minute extension? 

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