The Supreme Court of Pakistan has formed a new larger bench to hear petitions filed against the trial of civilians in military courts.

The new bench will be led by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial and has been listed for July 18 to July 20.

Also included in the bench are Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice yahya Afridi, Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi and Justice Ayesha Malik.

The reigstrar office has notified all parties in the case for a hearing.

The last proceedings of the case took place right before the judges went on summer vacations. In the last procceding, Attorney General Mansoor Awan had told the court that a total of 102 civilians were being held to be tried in military courts.

Before ending the last hearing, the chief justice had expressed optimism that no trials in military court would begin in the meantime.

However, the court had stopped short of issuing a stay order against cases of civilians being sent to military courts.

The proceedings had also seen evidence of division among the court as Senior Puisne Judge Qazi Faez Isa had distanced himself from proceedings immediately.