An interim order from the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench that allowed conditionally military trial for 85 civilians who were still in custody for their alleged involvement in last year’s May 9 riots might impact future decisions, PTI leader Ali Zafar said.

“I think constitutional bench should not have passed the interim order because our jurisprudence says that don’t make such decisions which can impact the final decision,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Saturday.

“Since the court has to decide whether the military trial can be conducted or not. So this interim order which allowed the military court to pronounce punishment can affect that,” he added.

On Friday, a seven-judge bench resumed hearing a case pertaining to the trial of more than 100 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the riots that followed ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9, 2023.

The bench — comprising Justice Aminuddin, Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali, and Shahid Bilal Hassan — specified that the verdicts of the military courts would be subject to its final decision on the appeals against the Oct 23, 2023 ruling.

“Suspects who can be accorded concessions in their sentences, should be given so and released,” Justice Aminuddin Khan, who is heading the constitutional bench, said.

Zafar, a lawyer himself, substantiated his argument by saying that the decision would affect the people who would be punished by the military court if the SC overturned its interim order.

“It was better not to issue the interim. The court should have conducted day-to-day hearing, it would have taken three to four days to give final decision then it could have given final decision,” he said.

The PTI leader mentioned a sentence from the order that for him was not clear. “I saw a sentence in the order that this order is passed by agreement of parties. If yes, then you cannot blame court, and if not and you still passed the order, I think it was not appropriate.”

PML-N Senator Zahid Khan, who was also on the show via video link, was of the view that the court’s decision at least allowed the suspects to have their cases heard as they have been in jail for more than two years. He added that they would have a chance to appeal against the decision.

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When asked, PTI’s Zafar clarified that the PTI was not pleading for talks.

“I spoke to [jailed former prime minister] Imran Khan and he said that a wrong impression is being given that the PTI was requesting talks. He said, ‘We have only opened the door for talks’,” Zafar said and called for “confidence-building measures” for dialogue.

He added that there were people on both sides of the table who say “such things” that affect the dialogue process.