PESHAWAR: The lawyers’ wing of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday announced plans to file appeals for party workers, who were recently convicted by military courts for involvement in the May 9, 2023, violent protests in the province.

Insaf Lawyers Forum provincial general secretary Ali Zaman told Dawnthat the forum received instructions from KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to file appeals or petitions against military court convictions next week starting tomorrow (Monday).

He said the forum would hold a meeting in a day or two to decide whether to file those appeals with the chief of army staff (COAS) under the Pakistan Army Act or submit petitions to the Peshawar High Court under Article 199 of the Constitution.

Mr Zaman said that a panel of lawyers, led by ILF provincial chief Qazi Mohammad Anwar, would plead thosecases.

Insaf Lawyers Forum will decide whether to approach COAS or high court for relief

He said his party’s 27 activists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been convicted by military courts in connection with attacks on military installations in Mardan, Bannu, Chakdara (Dir Lower), Timergara (Lower Dir), Bannu and Peshawar.

The ILF leader said the forum had high hopes that the judiciary would set those convictions aside.

Meanwhile, Barrister Sarwar Muzzafar Shah, a member of the ILF’s team, told Dawn that the power of attorney had been secured from 11 convicts to plead their cases.

He said that those convicts were shifted to the Peshawar Central Prison after military courts sentenced them.

Mr Shah said that it would be appropriate for convicts to first approach the appellate forum, mentioned in the Army Act, which was the COAS.

He said the Army Act’s that provision declared that any person to whom a court-martial had awarded a sentence of death, imprisonment for life, imprisonment exceeding three months, or dismissal from the service, may, within forty days from the date of announcement of the sentence prefer an appeal to a court of appeals consisting of the chief of the army staff or one or more officers designated by him.

On Dec 21, the military’s media wing, ISPR, announced sentences for 25 of the accused by Field General Court Martial. On Dec 26, it released details of convictions of 60 other accused across the country.

Of them, seven convicts in the first batch and 20 in the second batch were from KP.

Ten PTI activists were convicted for attacking Bannu Cantonment and six for Punjab Regiment Centre Mardan, five each for attacking Headquarters of Dir Scouts Timergara and Chakdara Fort and one for attacking the main gate of FC Peshawar Cantonment.

The rigorous imprisonment awarded to them will last from two years to 10 years.

Rehmatullah, Adnan Ahmad and Shakirullah got 10 years of imprisonment and Yasir Nawaz, Saeed Alam and Zahid Khan two years of imprisonment each for Mardan attack.

Similarly, convicts in the Bannu cantonment attack case included Mohammad Afaq, Ikramullah, Ameen Shah, Khizar Hayat, Saqlain Haider, Izzat Gul, Naik Mohammad, Khalid Nawaz and Rahimullah, who received nine years of imprisonment each, while Samiullah was awarded two years of imprisonment.

The military courts handed down seven years imprisonment to Daud Khan, Gohar Rehman and Zakir Hussain each for attacking Chakdara Fort, while Ikramullah and Raees Ahmad got four years of imprisonment each.

Similarly, Sohrab Khan and Asadullah received four years of imprisonment each and Mohammad Suleman, Izzat Khan and Mohammad Ilyas two years of imprisonment each for Timergara attack and Mohammad Ayaz two years of imprisonment for his role in the Peshawar violent protests.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2024