Amnesty International has expressed its concerns over the trail of civilians in Pakistan’s military courts, demanding the country to strike it down “immediately”.

“As per Article 14, a fair trial is one of the rights that must guarantee to all of its people and military courts just don’t provide a fair trial,” Dinushika Dissanayake, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International, told DW.

Pakistan is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – a treaty that bounds nations to respect civil and political rights, electoral rights, and rights to due process and a fair trial.

She went on to add that Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court have raised concerns about the way military courts were “run” in Pakistan. These include the selection of judges and private trials of the suspects.

She added that the country has ordinary criminal laws to respond to, stressing that military courts cannot be used. “By using military courts with over 1,000 people arrested with allegations of the arrest of different people at different times in ways that would violate human rights laws. The government is not just actually cracking down on dissent it’s creating a chilling effect on freedom of expression as a whole in the country,” said Dissanayake.

The regional director for South Asia was of the view that the use of military courts paves the way for other human rights violations: enforced disappearances and torture. She urged the government to transfer these cases to ordinary courts.

“The right to a fair trial, guaranteed by Pakistan’s constitution, is severely undermined by this move and cannot be justified. It must be struck down immediately,” said Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office.