Overzealous justice – Newspaper – DAWN.COM


An anti -terrorism court of Islamabad has delivered variable sentences to 12 individuals, including a member of the National Assembly of PTI, in a case of disturbances on May 9. MNA Abdul Latif and other party supporters have been convicted of attacking a police station in the Federal Capital.

The sentences, the first related to the events of May 9 in the capital, raise worrying questions about the use of anti -terrorist laws against political dissidents, including legislators.

While it is true that the violent actions of PTI supporters after the arrest of their chief of the party and former Minister of First Imran Khan were indefensible in many cases, if these individuals will be judged under the anti -terrorist laws? After all, the ATCs and even more hard military courts are reserved for anti-state elements, including ‘black’ terrorists.

The legislators and supporters of the PTI do not enter into this narrow category. They should have been tried under regular courts. The worried ATC judge has said that the convicts fulfilled the threshold of terrorism, while the party has described the “unfair” and “politically motivated” sentences.

In a related development, Judge Jamal Khan Commandkhail of the Constitutional Bank of the Supreme Court, in a dissident note, has criticized the use of martial courts in cases related to terrorism.

Pakistan in fact needs to address terrorism with all the force of the law. But there must be a clear distinction between violent militants and political dissidents.

Political violence should be treated with the relevant legal instruments, while the ATCs must be reserved to take violent terrorists before justice. While talking in Lahore the other day, President Asif Zardari urged all “democratic forces” to join.

However, this unit will be difficult to achieve if legislators and supporters of an important national political party are pursued by law, using legal instruments for hard nucleus terrorists. All political forces, as well as the powers are, must realize this.

The PTI has made many mistakes in the course of its political trip, but the parties evolve over time. The fact that it has a considerable national mandate cannot be ignored.

Instead of ‘punish’ political opponents, a genuine reconciliation process is needed with the acceptance of all the main political forces. Pakistan cannot afford internal discord and suppression of rights at a time when he faces external and internal threats for their safety.

Posted in Dawn, June 1, 2025



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