Pakistani Military Courts To Start Terrorism Trials

Pakistani military courts are ready to start trying some of the 10,000 suspects arrested since the start of a major counterterrorism operation.

Pakistani military spokesman General Asim Bajwa said on February 8 that the first 12 cases would be heard by the military courts "next week."

The government established the military courts after the December 16 attack on a school in Peshawar that left some 150 people dead, most of them schoolchildren.

Pakistan media have reported in recent days that more than 10,600 people have been detained on various charges related to terrorism since December 24, 2014, when the National Action Plan was initiated.

Charges against those detained range from "loudspeaker misuse" to funding or otherwise aiding militant groups that have plagued Pakistan for years, particularly in the areas bordering Afghanistan and Iran.