Pak Army chief approves increase in military courts

(MENAFN- Arab News) KARACHI: Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif on Tuesday approved an increase in the number of military courts to handle pending terrorism cases in the southern city of Karachi the military said.
Lawmakers voted in January to set up military courts to hear terrorism cases prompting criticism from lawyers and rights activists concerned about the hearings which are held in secret.
'Chief of Army Staff approved increase in number of military courts at Karachi to handle outstanding terrorist cases' army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said on Twitter. Gen. Sharif 'directed across the board operations to eliminate terrorists criminals and mafias from Karachi' Bajwa said.
Sharif was in Karachi to review an ongoing operation by paramilitary Rangers and police against militant and criminal groups.
It was not immediately clear that how many military courts were already holding trials or how many cases were pending before them as these courts work in restricted places.
Karachi a port city of some 20 million and Pakistan's economic hub is frequently hit by militants political and ethnic violence.
Paramilitary forces began a sweeping crackdown on alleged militants in the city in 2013 that has led to substantial drop in overall levels of violence. But rights groups have accused police and paramilitary troops of carrying out extrajudicial killings in staged gunfights.
The military courts were established as part of a crackdown on militancy following a massacre at a school in the northwest city of Peshawar on Dec. 16 last year.