Moving ahead with the Plan
The meeting of the heads of parliamentary parties and army leadership was held amid premonitions of martial law in case of deadlock persisting on the formation of military courts. None in the meeting was opposed to the military courts per se. There were however sharp differences over how these were to be constituted. The PPP, ANP and PTI supported amendment in the Army Act to widen the scope of the existing military courts to bring only the cases of religious and sectarian terrorism under their purview. It was maintained that any amendment in the provisions guaranteeing basic human rights were unacceptable as these would allow the trial of the people not connected with religious or sectarian crimes. The other side stuck to its stand maintaining that in the absence of constitutional amendments, any change in the Army Act was likely to be struck down by the SC. It was however agreed that the Army Act would also be amended.
The government was keen to get the amendment through Parliament posthaste. Nawaz Sharif in fact had wanted to put the draft of the proposed law before the National Assembly on Friday night. This was not possible as the APC continued till after 7 pm. The NA has now been convened on Saturday which is unusual. The bill would be put up before the Senate a day later. Nawaz Sharif even considered a debate on the proposed law unnecessary. How could any parliamentarian criticise it when the leaders of parliamentary parties had already given their consent, he questioned?
Despite the announcement that a consensus had been reached, soon after the meeting ended JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman expressed reservations over the mention of madaris in the National Action Plan. Only when the final draft bill is presented before the NA will it become clear how the reservations of the three parties over constitutional amendments have been met. Till then it would be premature to predict that the bill would be passed without debate.
