The Right to a Fair Trial and the Military Justice System in Pakistan

This article analyses the military justice system of Pakistan to determine to what extent it is compatible with fair trial standards recognised by human rights law and the constitution of Pakistan. It sets out the fair trial tests and apply them to the military justice system of Pakistan. The analysis reveals that the military justice system blatantly violates fair trial standards: it is part of the Executive and is neither independent nor impartial. It runs as a detached parallel departmental justice system to the national justice system. The author also argues that the majority judgement in the 2015 Military Courts Case did not apply the correct legal tests and wrongly held that the military justice system meets the fair trial standards. It is per in curiam. The author offers recommendations for reforming the military justice system proposing that Pakistan might learn from the successful reformation of the British military justice system.