96 of 106 cases not being sent to military courts

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry on Friday returned to Sindh and Punjab 96 out of 106 cases sent by their apex committees for military courts. To strengthen the existing laws to counter terrorism, an amendment bill for the Criminal Act has been sent to the Standing Committee on Interior for deliberation.
Under the amended law, punishments and fines will be enhanced for those who file fake cases, deliver hate speeches and record false statements. Members of the Standing Committee on Interior were briefed on these details during a meeting, in which the issue of necklace of the Turkish first lady gifted to Nadra for the flood victims was also discussed. The committee Chairman, Rana Shamim Ahmed, disposed of the matter, however.
Ahmed presided over the session, held in the Parliament Lodges. Due to the absence of PPP’s Dr Azra Afzal and Nafeesa Shah, debate on their separate bills on rape and honour killings were deferred.
Aminullah Marwat said if punishments for hate speech and other related crimes were enhanced, they should not be applied on politicians. He said politicians used to issue statements against one another.
Naeema Kishwar and Sher Akbar Khan said the amended bill should consider all equally and there should not be another bill for the police for abusing their powers. They said instead of making haste, the committee members should review it thoroughly. The deliberations on the bill were deferred till the next session of the committee.
The Interior Ministry officials told the committee that the federal government had designed a method to send cases to the military courts. They said the cases go to provincial apex committees before the provincial home departments. The apex committees send cases to the Federation where a special committee formed by the Interior Ministry reviews them before approving them for military courts.
Representatives from the GHQ, ministry, advocate general and attorney general’s office, etc, are part of

the special committee. They said Sindh sent 63 cases for military courts out of which only three cases were recommended and the remaining 60 rejected.
They said Punjab sent 43 cases out of which seven were approved for military courts. They said the Islamabad apex committee had not yet sent any case.