USING lawfare to swiftly get rid of political opponents makes a mockery of the legal system, especially when millions of Pakistanis have to wait years to get justice from the courts. The punishment meted out to former Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister Khalid Khurshid Khan by a local antiterrorism court “for threatening security institutions” is a clear example of the state using law codes to penalise an opponent way beyond the severity of the alleged crime. Mr Khan, who belongs to the PTI, has been ordered to serve 34 years in prison along with paying a monetary fine, while the court has commanded that his CNIC be blocked. The ex-CM’s sentence exceeds the duration of a life term that courts in Pakistan hand out. Khurshid Khan has been convicted for a speech he made in Gilgit; he also faces other cases. Though Mr Khan’s whereabouts are not known, and he did not appear in the hearings of the aforesaid case, he issued a video statement in which he defended his speech, saying that he had criticised what he termed were undemocratic methods employed by certain state functionaries in removing his government. Mr Khan was disqualified in 2023 for allegedly having a fake degree.

While politicians and public figures often make controversial claims during speeches and rallies, it is a stretch to apply the antiterrorism law to such utterances. Mr Khan can appeal his harsh sentence before the GB higher judiciary. The state needs to reconsider its use of such legal tactics against opposition figures. The sad fact is that using lawfare against critics of the state has a long history in Pakistan, as towering political figures of the past have been accused of being ‘anti-national’, and worse. Ironically, those actually involved in terrorism and fanning hate manage to escape the long arm of the law. Moreover, using the legal system to target opponents will further reduce the confidence of the public in the governance structure.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2025