On October 23, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the section of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, which allowed the court martial of civilians. The majority judgements were authored by Justices Munib Akhtar and Ayesha A Malik. The only dissent in the 4-1 majority verdict came from Justice Yahya Afridi. The latter, while agreeing with the majority that civilians could not be court martialled for events related to May 9, did not strike down the law that permits the court martial of civilians. In doing so, the highest court of the land found that the procedure adopted in military courts was a violation of fundamental rights. At the same time, the court also ordered that individuals accused of offences in relation to May 9 and 10 shall be tried by ordinary criminal courts.
On November 17, the federal government filed an appeal against this decision, following which, the appellate bench, on December 13, partly suspended the judgement, allowing the military trials to proceed subject to the condition that no final judgement will be announced, until it reached its verdict.