ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday admitted the petition filed against the 21st constitutional amendment for hearing.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Gulzar Ahmed will hear the petition on January 28.
The 21st constitutional amendment was passed by the parliament earlier this month as part of the national action plan against terrorism adopted in the wake of terror attack that hit the army public school in Peshawar on December 16.
Under the 21st constitutional amendment, military courts being established across the country for speedy trial of certain offences relating to terrorism were given legal cover.
However on January 9, the Pakistan Justice Party Chairman Munsif Malik filed a petition in the Supreme Court through advocate Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, arguing that the government and military establishment had resurrected the doctrine of necessity.
The petitioners had maintained that the armed forces had been given a free hand to interfere in the judicial system without having experience and understanding of law. He had said that the military courts have been given a status they are not entitled to under the constitution.
The petitioner had requested the apex court to declare the 21st amendment and establishment of military courts against the constitution which guaranteed fundamental rights of fair trial.
