Eqbal Khan

On 7 May 2025, the SC held that the Government/Parliament are to “consider and make” a law providing civilians a right to appeal to the High Court against convictions by military courts. The SC accepted that there was no independent right to appeal under the Army Act. Under the military law, the right to appeal lies to a court of appeal consisting of the Chief of Army Staff or one or more officers designated by him. The appellate forum is composed of officers who remain subject to the same command structure. An appeal, within the military structure, is an appeal to a hierarchy that has an institutional interest in defending its own processes. Despite a time-bound order, the Government has failed to take steps to initiate legislation. Those convicted by military courts are left without access to an independent appellate forum. The consequences of inaction are stark. Civilians have been deprived of their liberty by military courts without any independent appeal. The failure to legislate destroys the constitutional promise of due process, and protection against wrongful deprivation of liberty. It places citizens at the mercy of a system structurally incapable of an independent appeal. The government’s inaction reflects its sheer disregard for judicial orders.

🔴 Freedom of expression, rule of law under stress: HRCP launches 2025 report 4 May 2026, Islamabad. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)’s annual report, State of Human Rights in 2025, documents a year marked by a severe contraction of civic space, the erosion of judicial independence, and deepening insecurity. The report observes with alarm that the right to freedom of expression—particularly to question authority and demand accountability—was deeply suppressed in 2025, with far-reaching consequences for the rule of law and the protection of fundamental freedoms. Worryingly, legal and institutional mechanisms were increasingly used to curb dissent. Amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, alongside the use of sedition and anti-terrorism laws, led to the widespread targeting of journalists, political workers, activists, and lawyers. Reports of intimidation, enforced disappearances, and restrictions on movement contributed to a climate of fear and self-censorship, limiting public discourse and obscuring human rights violations. Amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 at the federal and Balochistan levels, allowing law enforcement agencies and even the armed forces to detain any person for up to three months without charge or judicial oversight, expanded the scope for undermining fundamental rights of liberty, due process, and protection from arbitrary detention. In particular, the report highlights a marked deterioration in judicial independence, particularly following the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which reconfigured judicial appointments and expanded executive influence. Key court decisions during the year further narrowed democratic space, raising serious concerns about due process and the separation of powers through judgements that enabled the military trials of civilians and effectively delegitimised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) by denying the party the reserved seats it had been granted in 2024. Security challenges compounded rights violations. Militancy and counterterrorism operations disproportionately affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, resulting in significant civilian and law enforcement casualties. Enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and collective punishments persisted, while vulnerable groups—including women, children, religious minorities, and transgender persons—continued to face violence and discrimination without adequate redress. Miners and sanitation workers in particular remained vulnerable to accidents with little reported progress in improving their safety. While climate-related disasters, particularly in Gilgit-Baltistan, caused multiple deaths and destroyed infrastructure, the government’s response remained reactive rather than long-term. The report notes several positive developments. The passage of the National Commission for Minorities Act represents a long-awaited step toward institutional protection for religious minorities. The Child Marriage Restraint Acts for Islamabad Capital Territory and Balochistan marked progress in safeguarding children’s rights, while the higher courts issued important judgments advancing women’s rights in areas such as inheritance and marriage. Targeted welfare initiatives and institutional reforms at provincial levels also offered relief, but incrementally. Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt, former chairperson Hina Jilani, co-chair @MunizaeJahangir, vice-chair Nasreen Azhar and secretary-general Harris Khalique presented the report’s findings earlier today and took questions from the press. Farah Zia Director The report can be accessed here: tinyurl.com/yewzk8tu

President of Progressive Students' Collective (PSC), Ali Abdullah Khan, addressing the March for Gaza from Khyber to Karachi, organized by the Pak Palestine Forum and Pakistanis for Gaza. (1/2) #PSC #FreePalestine

“According to Justice Sattar, even General Ziaul Haq's regime did not prescribe such method of judges transfer.”

Just as the defamation law case was nearing completion, and “lawyer Asad Jamal, representing journalists Mansoor Ali Khan and Benazir Shah, was scheduled to continue his arguments, the Punjab government's counsel objected.” Case sent back to CJ LHC. thenews.pk/print/1412463-…

This is certainly not the first, nor the last time, that case has been transferred to the CJ of the LHC. When the construction of the parking plaza in Nasir Bagh, Lahore was challenged in LHC, that case was also transferred to the CJ. The pattern tells us a lot.

What we are witnessing in the past few days in the Katchi Abadis of Islamabad isn't just the demolition of houses, it is a systematic exclusion of poor and working class communities in the centre of Pakistan. (1+) #nurpur #bariimam #Islamabad

Comrade @ShabbirMayar has been arrested for just going to Gilgit from his village for a medical checkup. He is a heart patient and is not allowed to leave his village even for medical treatment. Shame on this fascism. #ReleaseShabbirMayar

On this day in 2017, the religious fanatics in Abdul Wali Khan University killed their fellow #MashalKhan on the allegations of blasphemy. While remembering him, we should also seek courage to speak truth to powerful and to the corrupt. Because this is what he dreamt of!

Content Warning ⚠️ The brutal suicide of Fahmida Laghari, a student at Muhammad Medical College Mirpurkhas, is not a mere tragedy, it is cold-blooded murder enabled by the state-backed ban on students' unions. Fahmida was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted by her ...

Progressive Students' Collective (PSC)'s statement regarding the evacuation notice & ongoing protests at the Government Fatima Jinnah Graduate College for Women.

True as hell!

By offloading @AliiRaza__ from traveling abroad for a conf, state authorities have unmasked their honestly brutal and repressive face. No reason was given. What FIA is doing to common Pakistaniz at airports is nothing but state gangsterism. Who's responsible? @MohsinnaqviC42

علی رضا کو بغیر کوئی وجہ بتائے @FIA_Agency کے اہلکاروں نے لاہور ایئرپورٹ سے تھائی لینڈ جانے سے روک دیا۔ اُن کے ساتھ امیگریشن اہلکاروں نے کیا سلوک کیا، اُن ہی کی زبانی سُنیے۔ اس نظام کو کب ٹھیک کیا جائے گا؟ @MohsinnaqviC42

انھوں نے جو جو مانگا میں نے دکھایا۔ تین گھنٹے تذلیل کے بعد انھوں نے کہا جاو، ورنہ آف لوڈ کی سٹیمپ لگائیں گے اور زندگی بھر سفر نہیں کر سکو گے۔ میں نے کہا ٹھیک ہے لیکن آپ وجہ تو بتائیں۔ انھوں نے میرا پاسپورٹ اور بورڈنگ پاس چھینا اور ائیر لائن کو کہا کہ اس کا سامان اتار کے اسے دو

A NATION'S SHAME....Pakistan now has world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children. 25.1 million children aged 5-16 not attending school. Punjab leading with 9.7m, Sindh 7.4m, KP 4.5m, Balochistan 3.5m: UNICEF #Pakistan #Education unicef.org/pakistan/educa…

Instead of kicking out US bases, these filthy rich mindless Arabs are creating more traps for their destruction.

One of my professors, once argued that those states with more natural resources become autocratic. I argued with him for around half an hour but his westernised brain did not understand that the west deliberately does that so they can easily loot their resources.

🚨🚨 This is criminal, these doctors should be arrested and their license and degrees should be revoked.

The FT's longtime Tehran correspondent Najmeh Bozorgmehr has written an anti-war manifesto that is simultaneously intimate and epic, heart-breaking and hopeful. A reminder how war is an assault on humanity itself.