he fate of Muslim Khan, once the public face of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Swat region, has now been dependent on the judicial system which he negated in past.

Family members of Muslim Khan, who was sentenced to death by a military court on multiple counts of terrorism, are now eyeing the superior courts for saving his life.

Muslim Khan`s wife Nida Bibi had filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court challenging the conviction of her husband. However, after remaining pending for over two months in the high court the petition was withdrawn.

The high court has usually been conducting in-camera hearings in writ petitions filed against military courts` judgments in cases of terrorism. Advocate Tariq Asad, representing the petitioner, told media persons on Aug 10 that the bench had disposed of the petition as he had informed the court that they wanted to withdraw the same.

The counsel stated that they would file a fresh writ petition before the Lahore High Court as according to information received by them Muslim Khan was convicted and sentenced to death by a military court at Attock Fort, which was outside the jurisdiction of PHC. He added that a confessional statement of Muslim Khan was also recorded before a magistrate in Rawalpindi.

The PHC had earlier stayed execution of Muslim Khan on May 24. Subsequently, the stay order was extended on different occasions. With the withdrawal of the petition thereis now no bar on execution of Muslim Khan and his family will try to move the Lahore High Court at the earliest.

His counsel believe that Muslim Khan was not given a fair trial which was guaranteed under Article 10-A of the Constitution.

An expert dealing with such cases said that Muslim Khan was a high-profile convict and there was little chance of a favourable verdict.

The lawyer, who does not want to be named, said that at the most his family members would try to delay his execution by adopting different legal courses available to them.

In a strange twist of fate Muslim Khan, who continued to propagate the policy of violence of TTP Swat and justified suicide bombings in Malakand region including Swat, has now been seeking relief from the system he had negated. As a spokesman of banned TTP Swat, he continued to claim responsibility for different acts of terrorism.

When TTP Swat was calling the shots in Malakand region, regular courts had stopped functioning in Buner, Swat and Shangla due to threats from the militants.

Muslim Khan`s importance in TTP Swat could be assumed from the fact that he was one of the five signatories from TTP side of a peace deal signed between them and then provincial coalition government of Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party on May 21, 2008. Other four signatories of Taliban were Maulana Mohammad Ameen, Ali Bakht, Mehmood Khan and Nisar Khan.

Muslim Khan and Mehmood were also members of the committee constituted for implementation of the peace deal. The peacedeal collapsed soon when the militants continued their violence by bombing government installations, especially schools.

After the militants were dislodged from Swat and other adjoining areas, in Sept 2009 the ISPR announced the arrest of Muslim Khan, Mehmood Khan and three other militant commanders. Both Muslim Khan and Mehmood were carrying head money of Rs10 million each.

For several years they were least heard of and finally the ISPR announced on Dec 28, 2016 that the army chief had confirmed death sentence awarded to Muslim Khan by a military court. It had stated that Muslim Khan was involved in killing of innocent civilians, attacking Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies, which resulted in death of 31 persons, including Inspector Sher Ali of police and injuries to 69 others. He was also involved in kidnapping of two Chinese engineers for ransom and slaughtering of four army officers.

Mehmood Khan was also convicted and sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment on account of his involvement in kidnapping a Chinese engineer for ransom.

The military courts for trying terrorists attached with militant outfits using the name of religion or a sect were set up for a period of two years after the passage of the Constitution (Twenty First Amendment) Act, 2015. After completion of its two-year constitutional life early this year, the tenure of these military courts was extended by two years through another constitutional amendment.

When the military courts completed their initial two years in January, these courts, according to ISPR, had by then convicted 274hardcore militants of which 161 were sentenced to death and 113 others awarded prison terms, mostly life imprisonment.

While family members of dozens of convicted militants had tried their luck in the superior courts, in most of the cases they failed to get any permanent relief from the judicial forums. On May 28, a bench of the high court had upheld convictions of 39 militants by the military courts.

While the bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi maintained death sentences of 35 militants and life imprisonment of two others, it remanded to the trial court cases of only two of the militants for re-deciding the quantum of sentence awarded to them.

In most of the cases originating out of judgments of the military courts, the counsels appearing for the petitioners had raised objections about their non-access to the record of the military court leading to the convictions.

They had also objected to not giving the opportunity to the convicts to be represented by a counsel of their choice during trial.

So far, the superior courts have overruled these two objections. Similarly, the courts have also overruled a major argument of the petitioners` counsels about the mode and manner of the confessional statement recorded by these convicts. In almost all the cases of convictions the ISPR has claimed that these convicts had admitted their guilt before the magistrate as well as the trial court.

Experts believe that the counsels appearing for petitioners challenging such convictions have to make a very strong case to get any relief for their clients.