Pakistan’s military courts sentenced 25 civilians to prison terms ranging from two to 10 years in connection with attacks on military facilities in 2023, the armed forces’ media wing said on Saturday.
These civilians are believed to be supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The ruling underscores concerns among Imran Khan’s supporters that military courts will play a bigger role in cases involving the 72-year-old leader who is facing multiple charges including allegedly inciting attacks against the armed forces.
Thousands of Khan supporters stormed military installations and torched a General’s house on May 9, 2023 to protest against the former premier’s arrest by paramilitary soldiers.
At least eight people were killed in the violence.
The military’s Inter-Services Public Relations office said the sentences handed down on Saturday were an “important milestone in dispensation of justice to the nation”.
“It is also a stark reminder to all those who are exploited by vested interests and fall prey to their political propaganda and intoxicating lies, to never take law in their own hands,” it added in a statement.
Others charged over the violence were being tried in anti-terrorism courts but justice would only be fully served “once the mastermind and planners … are punished as per the Constitution and laws of the land,” the military said.
The ruling comes days after Khan was indicted by an anti-terrorism Court on charges of inciting attacks against the military.
An Army General who served under him as his spy chief, Faiz Hamid, is facing a military investigation on the same charge.
Pakistan‘s Supreme Court last week allowed military courts to announce verdicts in concluded trials of nearly 85 supporters of Khan on charges of attacking army installations.
It however made such verdicts conditional on the outcome of appeals against the jurisdiction of military courts over civilians.
Last year, the Court provisionally allowed military courts to try civilians.
(With inputs from Reuters)
