ISLAMABAD: The multiparty conference (MPC) hosted by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) here on Saturday ended without reaching a consensus on the revival of military courts.

At the end of the conference, the PPP announced that it would prepare its own draft of the constitutional amendment bill containing steps for removing political parties’ reservations over the working of the courts. The draft will be presented by the party if restoration of military courts becomes inevitable at any stage.

Talking to Dawn, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar claimed that those political parties which had already given their consent to the government’s proposal to extend the courts’ period for two years, had declared in the MPC that they would wait for the PPP’s draft before making a final opinion on the issue.

Heads and representatives of 12 political parties attend moot

The MPC was attended by the heads and representatives of 12 parties. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had declined the PPP’s invitation, terming the conference a futile exercise after development of consensus among the parties over restoration of the courts till Jan 7, 2019.

The consensus had been reached at a meeting of the parliamentary leaders presided over by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Feb 28. The PPP had boycotted the meeting due to its reservations over the draft of the constitutional amendment bill handed over to the parties by the government on Feb 17 and to register its protest over the role of the speaker in the exercise.

The PPP had not invited the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N to the conference.

Asked about the absence of representatives of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Mr Babar said the names of the heads of the two parties were there in the list of the invitees, but the PPP could not properly send invitations to them as both PkMAP president Mehmood Khan Achakzai and BNP-M Senator Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini were out of the country.

“We are opposed to restoration of military courts. And we will present our own draft of the bill after consultation with our lawyers, if the revival of the courts becomes inevitable at any stage,” said PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari while briefing reporters outside Zardari House soon after the MPC.

Flanked by Mr Babar and PPP secretary general Nayyar Bokhari, Mr Bhutto-Zardari claimed that the participants of the MPC were unanimous in their opinion that the government had failed to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism.

He said the PPP wanted immediate merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that the government’s announcement to merge Fata with KP in five years was nothing but a “fraud with the Fata people”.

He condemned the ongoing “racial profiling” of Pakhtun people in parts of the country in the context of operation against terrorism and called for its immediate end.

The PPP chairman left the venue within two minutes leaving behind Mr Babar and Mr Bokhari to respond to reporters’ questions.

Mr Babar said the PPP had showed its policy on the revival of military courts by declaring opposition to their restoration. In case of their inevitability, the PPP will formulate legislative proposals to ensure respect of human rights and fair trial of the accused and to prevent misuse of the courts for political victimisation.

He said the agenda before the MPC was to discuss revival of military courts, implementation of the NAP, Fata reforms and the profiling of the Pakhtun people in some parts of the country.

In response to a suggestion by political parties, PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari had tasked former law minister Farooq Naek with urgently finalising draft legislation on military courts in case their restoration was deemed inevitable by all parties, Mr Babar said.

Elaborating the PPP’s reservations over military courts, he said merely mentioning ‘terrorist organisation’ or ‘terrorist group’ in the proposed bill was inadequate, and the terms required to be explained to prevent misuse of the proposed law. To ensure fair trial as enshrined in Article 10-A of the constitution, he said, it was necessary to allow the accused to engage a defence counsel of his choice, the right of appeal and the presence of observers in a military court.

He said questions had been asked as to how a jet-black terrorist had been defined and how many of 161 accused sentenced to death by the military courts were considered jet-black terrorists; how many were allowed to engage a lawyer of choice and how many were denied the charge sheet, copy of the judgment and evidence.

He said the revival of military courts would only deflect attention from real issues in reforming the criminal justice system and that was one reason why the PPP opposed it.

Asked about the reasons for the failure of the parties to reach a consensus and non-issuance of a joint declaration, Mr Babar said reaching consensus was not on the agenda of the conference as its main purpose was to have brainstorming on the issues.

Before the conference, PPP leaders had repeatedly said that the MPC was being convened to develop a consensus on military courts after failure of the government to do so.

Military courts were established to try civilians charged with terrorism in Jan 2015 after a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in Dec 2014. The courts have ceased to function since Jan 7 after the expiry of the two-year constitutional cover given to them.

Sources said Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman spoke against the government’s plan to merge Fata with the KP, but he did not get any supporting voice during the conference.

According to a press release issued by the party, speaking at the conference, PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari said delaying Fata reform implementation for five years betrayed the government’s insincerity and amounted to hoodwinking the tribal people. He demanded immediate implementation of the reforms.

Talking to reporters outside Zardari House, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that he had asked Mr Zardari to categorically state if the PPP was against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or not. He said that he had asked the PPP to come out in streets against the government.

Those who attended the MPC included PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Sherpao, Jamaat-Islami head Sirajul Haq, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, Mir Israrullah Zehri of the BNP (Awami), Mir Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party and Shah Jee Gul Afridi from Fata.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2017