EDITORIAL: Agha Shorish Kashmiri’s deteriorating condition in extended detention without trial is causing deep anxiety to many. … Even pro­minent opposition leaders … have jointly appealed to the President to release Shorish in view of his “critical condition” following a fast un­to death protesting a third extension of his term in jail. This is an invocation of essential hu­­manity in the treatment of a detenu whose chro­nic ill-health has been aggravated by the physical and emotional strains of imprisonment. …

Arrest without warrant, detention without trial and long periods in jail without the victim having a clue as to what he is being held for are not exactly practices conducive to the promotion of the rule of law, nor ... do they conform to ... “minimum standards of civilisation”... . Since his famous speech in Lahore in the beginning of this year advocating a dispensation in which “all persons … were ruled by law”, the President has more than once reiterated his resolve towards that goal. … The case of Shorish which merits sympathetic consideration … gains added significance because of the tremendous value … it … can have in relieving the acrid polemical atmosphere and saving the country from deeper political perplexities.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022