A STATE does not demonstrate its strength by the number of its critics it can imprison.
asserted
it → demonstrate → critics
Its strength is measured by its willingness to tolerate dissent, submit executive power to law and allow courts to protect even those whom the state considers troublesome.
asserted
state → measure → those
Pakistan today faces a troubling test on all three counts.
asserted
Pakistan → face → counts
Yet, taken together with the treatment of political opponents and other dissenting voices, they raise a larger question: is the criminal justice system increasingly being used not merely to prosecute alleged offences, but to manage dissent?
asserted
system → take → dissent
Mahrang Baloch emerged as a prominent voice against enforced disappearances and alleged extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.
asserted
Baloch → emerge → Balochistan
In June, an antiterrorism court sentenced her and another activist to life imprisonment in a case arising from the death of a security official during the 2024 Baloch Raji Machi.
asserted
court → sentence → Machi
Amnesty International criticised the proceedings as an expedited secret trial, stating that no direct evidence linking her to the violence had been presented.
asserted
evidence → criticise → violence
Her case has consequently become emblematic of wider concerns about due process and the treatment of Baloch dissent.
asserted
case → become → dissent
The state is entitled — indeed obligated — to prosecute violence.
asserted
state → obligate → violence
Human rights advocacy or political activism cannot confer immunity from criminal law.
asserted
advocacy → confer → law
But the converse is equally important: allegations of disloyalty or association with hostile organisations cannot substitute for evidence establishing individual criminal responsibility.
asserted
allegations → substitute → responsibility
Exceptional powers created against today’s adversary may become tomorrow’s weapon against those who created them.
uncertain
who → create → them
The experience of Imaan Mazari Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, raises another disturbing issue.
asserted
experience → raise → issue
Both lawyers and human rights activists, they were sentenced in January to 17 years’ imprisonment under multiple provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act in relation to social media posts.
asserted
they → sentence → posts
On Sept 17, the Supreme Court suspended their sentences and ordered their release.
asserted
Court → suspend → release
Within hours, they were arrested in another case and sent back to jail.
asserted
they → arrest → jail
Whatever the ultimate merits of that second case, the sequence raises a fundamental rule-of-law concern.
asserted
sequence → raise → concern
If obtaining bail in one case merely opens the door to detention in another, judicial relief risks becoming theoretical.
asserted
relief → obtain → another
Liberty cannot meaningfully depend upon how many FIRs remain available after a court orders someone’s release.
asserted
court → depend → release
This phenomenon has implications far beyond individual defendants.
asserted
phenomenon → have → defendants
Arrest becomes punishment before conviction; multiplicity of proceedings becomes a mechanism for prolonged detention; and appellate delay can make eventual acquittal an inadequate remedy.
asserted
acquittal → become → detention
A person who spends years incarcerated before a conviction is overturned cannot be given those years back.
asserted
conviction → spend → years
HRCP’s 2025 report described a severe contraction of civic space and raised concerns about erosion of judicial independence.
asserted
report → describe → independence
It documented the increasing use of cybercrime, sedition and antiterrorism laws against journalists, political workers, activists and lawyers, alongside continuing reports of enforced disappearances and restrictions on expression.
asserted
It → document → expression
These developments occur against a persistent public perception that unelected institutions — particularly the security establishment — exercise influence over political and accountability processes.
asserted
institutions → occur → processes
Both the establishment and government have rejected various allegations of political persecution.
asserted
establishment → reject → persecution
Such competing claims cannot be resolved by assertion.
uncertain
claims → compete → assertion
The controversy surrounding former prime minister Imran Khan’s medical treatment illustrates the institutional problem.
asserted
controversy → surround → problem
On Aug 18, the Supreme Court ordered that he be shifted to Shifa International Hospital for examination and treatment, with his personal physician and sister.
asserted
he → order → physician
Instead, he was taken to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and returned to prison, prompting allegations of non-compliance.
asserted
he → take → compliance
The matter was fixed for Sept 16, but by then, the Federal Constitutional Court had requisitioned the record of the hospital transfer cases.
asserted
Court → fix → cases
The Supreme Court itself expressed reservations about the FCC’s intervention but, citing judicial comity, adjourned proceedings for three weeks while seeking the attorney general’s assistance on the jurisdictional question.
asserted
Court → express → question
What began as the straightforward issue of compliance with a prisoner’s medical treatment order thus became entangled in a dispute over the jurisdiction of Pakistan’s two apex courts — a development critics view as having shifted attention from the unanswered question: was the original order obeyed?
asserted
order → begin → question
The constitutional question is whether an order of the highest court binds the executive in practice or merely begins another round of litigation.
asserted
order → bind → litigation
Montesquieu warned that “there is no liberty” where judicial power is not separated from the other powers of the state.
asserted
power → warn → state
The warning remains strikingly relevant.
asserted
warning → remain → ?
Courts cannot preserve liberty merely by issuing orders; those orders must command obedience.
asserted
orders → preserve → obedience
Pakistan does not need weaker security institutions.
asserted
Pakistan → need → institutions
It needs stronger constitutional institutions.
asserted
It → need → institutions
Allegations of terrorism, violence and incitement should be prosecuted where evidence exists, but antiterrorism and cybercrime legislation must not become convenient substitutes for ordinary criminal process.
asserted
legislation → prosecute → process
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
