HAS the state criminalised peaceful demonstrations and protests? Is even supporting and sympathising with the PTI now to be treated as a crime? This is the message, at least, that has been broadcast in recent weeks via the continuing arrests and detentions of ordinary citizens who have ‘dared’ to participate in any attempt by the PTI to mobilise post May 9. Over the Independence Day weekend, the Punjab police escalated matters considerably by launching a province-wide crackdown on PTI workers. A report in these pages stated that the action was ordered after PTI senior vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi called on party workers to celebrate Independence Day with public rallies. Responding to this ‘provocation’, the provincial police force circulated a list of 400 PTI activists, workers and leaders that were to be rounded up and put behind bars lest such ‘celebrations’ materialise. It is not up to the state to dictate, with force, how people must and must not celebrate their freedom. What does it seek to gain by antagonising citizens who are simply exercising rights promised under their contract with the state?

It is the great misfortune of the Pakistani people that they have yet to fully enjoy the hard-fought freedoms they won in 1947, thanks to our state’s proclivity for repressive colonial-era tactics whenever it has faced a challenge. Different socioeconomic, ethnic, cultural, linguistic and political groupings have routinely been treated as second-class citizens in different times; so much so that state coercion has gradually become normalised. However, with Pakistan now at an inflection point, it has become imperative to rethink past mistakes. In the current context, with elected representatives no longer in power, it is the caretaker set-up’s responsibility to put an immediate stop to the ongoing victimisation and ensure that no civilian be penalised for peacefully exercising their right to political expression. Meanwhile, it is hoped that our political parties have started reflecting on if they wish to condemn the country to another decade of political violence, as a young lawmaker poignantly indicated in his farewell address to parliament last week. Their silence appears to have emboldened the perpetrators. They should raise their voice in condemnation, or expect to soon find themselves on the receiving end. As history shows, our state is a fickle creature; it would be wise to be wary of it.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2023