Justice Ayesha Malik removed from military courts appeal bench

Islamabad: A three-member constitutional committee of the Supreme Court on Wednesday removed Justice Ayesha Malik from the seven-member constitutional bench hearing intra-court appeals regarding the May 9 military court trials.

The third meeting of the constitutional committee, chaired by Justice Aminuddin Khan and attended by Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Muhammad Ali Mazhar, reviewed the scheduling of cases related to civilian trials in military courts.

Meeting minutes revealed that Justice Ayesha Malik had already heard the May 9 military courts case, and the pending appeal will now be heard by a reconstituted seven-member bench. The matter of military courts has been referred to the Judicial Commission for nomination of the seventh member.

Key decisions included establishing a separate branch for constitutional cases, introducing "green tagging" for case categorization, and delegating responsibilities to the Registrar for procedural development.

The committee also approved transferring cases under Article 186A between high courts, scheduling five chamber appeals daily, and seeking civil judge assistance to handle increasing workloads.