MILLIONS of ordinary Pakistanis remain deprived of their human and constitutional rights, but these violations hardly attract the attention of the so-called champions of human rights who are always bothered about the rights of those who hurt the life of the common man.

Those who violate human rights of people get full attention of such bodies. The main opposition party vandalised public property, snatched the bread and butter of the daily wage-earner, and attacked military installations on the pretext of ‘peaceful protest’, which proved a nightmare for the whole nation that watched the horrific scenes on May 9 in a state of shock.

The human rights organisations, civil society and the so-called intelligentsia lost no time in demanding ‘protection of the rights’ of the agitators and violators of the rights of the public. The violent protestors also succeeded in grabbing the sympathy from the national media.

The general perception is that the higher judiciary is lenient towards the protestors which has not always been the case, especially during the heavy-handed crackdown back in the 1980s. Today, the political worker, representing the backbone of the political system, stands disillusioned.

Gulsher Panhwer
Johi

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2023