THE violation of fundamental rights — including the right to due process, to freedom of association and speech — across the country, is now beyond farce. There is not even the pretence of adhering to the law, only a relentless determination to erase all dissent through whatever means can be conjured up to illegally deprive recalcitrant individuals of their liberty, and to silence them.

Consider the travails of lawyer and vocal critic of enforced disappearances, Imaan Hazir Mazari. Her ‘original sin’, a fiery speech made at a PTM rally in Islamabad, has been used to file three FIRs against her. She was first arrested on multiple charges, including sedition, rioting and dacoity, etc — by law-enforcement personnel who reportedly barged into her residence in the early hours without an arrest warrant.

Granted post-arrest bail in one case, Ms Mazari was kept in custody until she obtained bail in the second one as well. Shortly after her release, she was rearrested outside the prison gates — this time on far-fetched allegations of ‘terror financing’ — an arrest that her lawyer has claimed violated the Islamabad High Court’s orders.

Outspoken PTM leader Ali Wazir, arrested alongside Ms Mazari, is yet to be granted bail. The former South Waziristan MNA was an exception earlier for having been kept behind bars on various pretexts for over two years, despite being acquitted and granted bail several times. But post May 9, there is a sinister predictability to the pattern of repeated incarceration at the pleasure of the authorities.

Ms Mazari’s mother, former PTI MNA Shireen Mazari, was subjected to the same until she announced she was leaving her party. Many other PTI leaders — including Shehryar Afridi, arrested an outrageous 10 times — have been made to go through this ‘revolving door imprisonment’, which makes a mockery of the courts. Those turning their backs on the party ‘won’ their freedom.

While PTI’s lawyers are preoccupied with defending Imran Khan, the legal troubles of other party leaders — not to mention ordinary PTI supporters — are getting scant attention. Several of them are in the security establishment’s custody and facing trials in military courts.

The Punjab caretaker government informed the Lahore High Court that the detainees are not allowed to meet their families or legal counsel of their choice. Are these foreign enemy agents or citizens of Pakistan?

The flagrant abuse of power being witnessed today leaves Pakistan looking like a country virtually unmoored from the universal principles of justice on which its Constitution and its international human rights obligations are based. One wonders whether the centres of power are cognisant of how this affects the country’s global standing. Or is that not a priority in these times? As for the caretakers, pleading helplessness is not an option. They are complicit.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023