Four APS terrorists to be hanged
01 December, 2015
PESHAWAR: Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif on Monday signed the black warrants of four terrorists involved in the Army Public School attack, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The army chief signed the black warrants of Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel alias Yahya nearly a year after the horrific massacre. All the four convicts were active members of Toheed wal Jihad Group (TWJ)
Militants stormed the school on Dec 16, 2014, killing at least 144 people ? most of whom were children. In the wake of the APS carnage, military courts were set up for trying terrorists under amendments made to the constitution and the Army Act. This was the first sentence approved by the army chief following the Supreme Court’s August 2015 judgement giving legal cover to the establishment of military courts.
Political parties had unanimously agreed over the issue of setting up military courts to tackle terrorism cases in the country following the gruesome attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014, following which parliament passed the 21st constitutional amendment in Jan 2015 to set up the said courts.
President Mamnoon Hussain had promulgated an ordinance further revising the recently amended Army Act to ostensibly aid the functioning of military courts by allowing for trials in camera, ie without the presence of the public or the media, and over video link if necessary. The Supreme Court in a majority ruling upheld the establishment of military courts in Pakistan.
Petitions challenging the 21st amendment were dismissed in August this year in a majority 11-6 vote of the 17-member SC bench. In a 14-3 majority vote, petitions challenging the 18th amendment were also dismissed by the bench.
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