Civil society activists approached the Supreme Court on Thursday to become interveners . They argued that the issue of civilians trials under the Pakistan Army Act PAA and the Official Secrets Act OSA was a matter of public interest . A sixjudge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is set to resume hearing challenges to the trial of civilians by military courts on Aug .
The application has been filed through senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of feminist activist Nighat Said Khan former UN special rapporteur for cultural rights Farida Shaheed founding member of the Joint Action Committee Lahore Neelam Hussain human rights activist Maryam Hussain and Maheen Pracha of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan .
The activists argued that unless the interveners were not made a party to the present petition the rights of citizens being tried by the military courts would be adversely affected by the current petition the cases would be affected . The applicants argued that all such investigations and trials of civilians accused under both acts and all subsequent actions were void from the beginning and had no legal effect they would be excluded from the current petitions would be unlawful from the start and have no legal action they said .
The applicant interveners would assist the court in declaring that civilians trials in relation to the alleged criminal acts committed on May and violation of the alleged crimes committed on the allegedcriminal acts committed in May were void . The applications have been filed by the alleged offences were null and had been unlawful.
The application was filed through Faisar Siddiqiqi. The applications were filed by Faisala Siddqi. was filed by an earlier version of this article. The Application has been published by the Supreme.
