Pakistan military courts go from today

They were set up through a statute amendment after the macabre December 16, 2014 Peshawar school attack.

Pakistani schoolchildren light candles and pray to mark the second anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in this December 16, 2016 file photo. With effect from Saturday, the special military courts -- set up to probe terror cases in the aftermath of the school attack -- have been discontinued.

Pakistan will wind up its special military courts from Saturday, two years after they were set up for speedy trial of hardcore militants following the deadly Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar that killed nearly 150 children.

The courts were established through an amendment in the Constitution after the horrendous attack in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The move generated heated debate as the courts were billed by rights activists as violation of basic human rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the country and international charters.

However, they were allowed to function after the Supreme Court upheld as valid the 21st constitutional amendment and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2015, enacted by Parliament in 2015.

Through the ‘sunset clause’

The amendment ensured that the courts will end after two years through insertion of the “sunset clause.”

There was no formal statement either from the government or the military announcing the end of the extraordinary powers for trial of civilians by the military, as they are deemed to end after a fixed time period of two years.

The first convictions under the military court were in April 2015 and the last ones were pronounced on December 28, 2016.

The courts were given 275 cases during two-year period and they sentenced 161 terrorists to death, whereas another 116 were given varying jail terms, mostly life sentences.

Just 12 convicted hanged

Only 12 convicts have been executed so far, according to the army. The trials resulted in convictions, imprisonment of and death sentences against terrorists belonging to the al-Qaeda, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar, Toheedwal Jihad Group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami, Lashkar-e-Islami, and Sipah-e-Sahaba.

The perpetrators of the Peshawar school attack were among the militants hanged after conviction in the military courts.

Over to anti-terror courts

The terrorism cases, which were sent to military courts from now onward will be heard in the anti-terrorism courts already functional in the country.

The special court system ended after another anti-terror law known as Protection of Pakistan Act expired last year. It allowed for detention of militants for 90 days without permission of the courts.