Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided in principal to participate in the parliamentary leaders’ meeting of National Assembly parties to discuss the future of military courts, whose mandated term expired on Saturday.
The NA secretariat on Sunday sent a message to all the parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly to attend the meeting to be held today.
The meeting would be held with NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in the chair, where the future of the military courts would be discussed with parliamentary parties’ representatives.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi will participate in the meeting to be held on January 11.
Qureshi said that PTI wanted that the opposition parties should participate in the meeting after holding mutual consultation.
He said that the constitutional amendment has been made for the establishment of military courts, and it was incumbent upon the government to remove the weaknesses and flaws in the judicial system during the two-year period.
He said that now the PTI would look into the matter as what the government have done so far for reforming the flawed judicial system during such a long period of time, besides scrutinizing as what’s the government’s next targets.
In order to evolve a joint and effective strategy, Qureshi said that he made a contact with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah in this regard.
He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leader Tariq Bashir Cheema has already agreed in principal on the point.
Moreover, the PTI leader said that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq and Muttahida Qoumi Movement leader Farooq Sattar have been sent messages in this regard.
PTI wanted to hold formal consultative meeting of the opposition political parties prior to the parliamentary parties’ meeting so as to discuss the issue in detail and evolve a joint strategy.
It is pertinent to mention here that some political parties have voiced serious concerns over the issue of extension of the tenure of military courts.
Sirajul Haq opposed the proposal of extension of the term of military courts and urged the need for empowering the civilian courts.
Similarly, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed his unwillingness and dubbed the idea of giving extension to military courts as complete failure of the civilian government.
