A five-member constitutional bench led by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan heard Hamid Khan’s arguments about the petition that PTI founder Imran Khan had filed.
Justice Khan asked the attorney what the petition’s client had asked for. According to Advocate Khan, the petitioner asked for the creation of a judicial commission to look into the May 9 incident. The commission would include the Chief Justice and two senior Supreme Court judges. Another aim, he added, was to prevent civilian trials in military courts.
The plea for civilians to be tried in military courts had already become infructuous, according to Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, because a separate case was already pending on the subject.
He questioned the attorney on whether Article 184, Clause 3 of the Constitution could be applied to the question of creating a judicial commission. In response, Advocate Khan stated that although the May 9 occurrence was a national tragedy, no judicial investigation had been conducted.
In the issue concerning civilian trials in military tribunals, Justice Mazhar questioned him about whether he had requested the creation of a judicial panel. Hamid Khan gave a negative response.
The petition stated that hundreds of civilians had been slain on May 9, said Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail. The justice asked the attorney if they had included the death certificate of any of the people slain with the petition.
He was asked by Justice Khan if any FIRs had been registered or if any private complaints had been made about civilian deaths.
Instead, media reports about the May 9 civilian deaths may have been provided, according to Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi.
The bench thereafter postponed the hearing indefinitely and gave PTI extra time to present further papers.
