How long will Pak govt. use military as a crutch, questions PTI leader

Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan. 11 (ANI): Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the federal government was using the military as a crutch. "Operation Zarb-i-Azb was successful but how long will the government use the military as a crutch?" he asked. Qureshi said after a meeting of the opposition leaders with National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on the government's decision to reinstate the controversial military courts, reports the Dawn. The meeting between opposition parties' representatives and the speaker took place a day after the federal government initiated consultations to introduce a constitutional amendment reinstating the military courts for a period of time all political parties agree upon. Qureshi said that the government had not succeeded in convincing its allies, Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), to support the revival of the courts. "Even the first time, support was offered on a conditional basis," he said. Earlier, opposition leader Khursheed Shah had chaired a consultative meeting of opposition parties regarding the revival of military courts, and said the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) will oppose the reinstatement of military courts. Pakistan had legalised military court trials of terror suspects for a period of two years in January 2015 - soon after the terror attack on Peshawar's Army Public School in Dec 2014, in which 144 people, most of them children, were killed by Taliban militants. The controversial special powers empower military courts to try civilian terror suspects. Military courts do not grant convicts the essential components of a fair and free trial, as they lack in transparency and do not allow convicts the option to appeal to civilian courts. (ANI)