As we look at the concept of universal human rights, within that spectrum perhaps the most important and common denominator in almost all the conventions or constitutions exists the unalienable right to freedom of expression, vested within every person from birth, regardless of their religion, gender, race, caste or any other identifier of a human separating them from another.
It is a right observed foremost in the UN Convention on Human Rights, and a right granted by article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan; in fact, Pakistan is a further member of a select group of countries that also recognize a right to information in its constitution within article 19A.
So, the slow decay of freedom of speech is becoming against the spirit of the country itself. Being clamped at by the powers that be, who make speeches of uplifting it. Every force in this country is collective when it comes to this crime against all its citizens.
The trend of political victimization of the opposition is an old one, whoever loses the majority runs around reproaching the winner, who then comes to thrash them in a show of power. It doesn’t matter whether Imran Khan is in opposition or power, or whether Shehbaz Sharif is, it is a constant.
However, it is now no longer, particularly a matter of politicians, but the right of every Pakistani individual that is slipping away. This comes to attention when Pakistan falls down to 157 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom index. A rank below even Afghanistan, and several ranks below Central Asian countries such as Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.
It becomes very evident when a very well-respected senior journalist who has an audience of multi-millions, is outright lured into another country, tortured, and then murdered. And it becomes absolutely obvious when a Twitter follower with 100 followers is arrested and then sentenced to 3 years in trial, as well as imposed a hefty fine.
Even if sanity is restored by the High Court, by quashing the sentencing. Such arrests are almost guaranteed to be followed by custodial torture being directed, traumatizing the person and stopping them from likely ever speaking out again to any number of people. They have had their right taken, the right that is guaranteed by our sacred constitution.
Further, a right to information also comes under question most recently after the Wikipedia debacle, but it is imperative to not forget when the largest news channel at the point, outright had its NOC canceled by the interior for no valid reason late last year, and later after murdering of Arshad Sharif, it was further clawed at by accusations in relation to the case. As the entire channel came into a shakedown, it was to remember who it is that controls the “information”, as well as the opinions.
As a new bill is being prepared by the federal government to make it harder to criticize any part of the country, it becomes harder to know if the judiciary will use its powers to strike them down as it did the vile PECA Amendment Ordinance issued by President Arif in February last year, surely being brought for Imran Khan to do what is happening to him now, ironically.
The bill in question is so repulsive even Draco would shiver at the thought of enacting it. It aims to amend the Pakistan Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure. Allowing 5 years of imprisonment for scandalizing, and ridiculing (reading, criticizing, or questioning) the Judiciary or the Army as an institute, or any of their members.
Given the fact that the judiciary has often enjoyed curbing freedom of speech within the pretext of contempt of court, instead of panning to hundreds of thousands of other important matters. If the bill is presented and passed, it certainly can’t be said whether it will face the same fate as the PECA amendment did.
It becomes more doubtful, given part of the trial judiciary is visibly already serving powers beyond the law, when although a political worker, still a senior citizen like Azam Swati is taken away by FIA, and inflicted with serious custodial torture when he is remanded, and the torture itself becomes disregarded.
More recently there is a genuine need for fear, when people like Fawad Chaudhary, and Sheikh Rashid are remanded for the kind of empty remarks they have always thrown around, for whoever feeds their mouth. Kind of remarks has never been taken up seriously when said for those who run the machinery.
Under the guise of the sedition laws (a colonial bypast, far past their expiry date) to be used up, which is beyond bizarre when they are used in regard to remarks to Zardari who is merely an MNA. Given aforementioned additions to PECA were struck down there is no clear law that facilitates these arrests for Zardari remarks.
Nor are there any clear laws regarding arrests being plotted, for the audio leaks which are flowing out ever faster. These are at a glance done illegally, logically making them inherently not able to be acted on at all. Even then if the law can be discovered for the arrest of someone like Shaukat Tareen, why can it not be for the Premier himself, be it regarding Maryam Nawaz’s power plant import from India, or “London’s” permission to accept PTI resignations?
Moreover, it is bizarre, when courts refuse to accept jurisdiction, and the “suspects” are moved around the country like a sack of potatoes to allow maximum time under detention.
As fears of losing grip over absolute power and repute come into question, so does the use of ever more force to squeeze basic human freedoms through an increasingly aggressive stance, to turn what at best might be considered political bias into anti-institutional propaganda. This is something that is made of every political force in the country over time, as well as the other obvious forces in a combined effort to sabotage the freedom of expression.
It is the beauty of democracy, to allow questions; to hold those in power always accountable to the people whose country they have reins over. In Pakistan, the opposite is occurring; to deduce the country’s standing on either a democratic or human rights scale doesn’t require an expert’s touch; yet again a common man may face a jail term for merely expressing their opinion.
