Pak pol parties agree to revive military courts for 2 yrs

Pakistan's political parties today agreed in principle to revive the controversial military courts for another two years for speedy trial of terrorists, after a fresh wave of suicide attacks killed over 125 people recently.

The military courts were set up in January 2015 for a two year term after a constitutional amendment following a terror attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in December 2014 that killed over 150 people, mostly students.

Since their expiry last month, government has been trying to bring the political parties around the idea of another tenure for military courts.

The parliamentary leaders of major political parties met in Islamabad and agreed to amend the constitution to extend the military courts for a period of two years.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed media about the decision.

However, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has some reservations and has called an All-Party Conference on March 4 to evolve general consensus.

But the government is hopeful that PPP would be ready to support the idea by March 6 when government would convene the parliament session to present an amendment in constitution to set up speedy trial courts.

The government can also set up the court even without the support of PPP as it enjoys the backing of

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)