Category: Social Issues
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Abuse of Accountability Law to curb Freedom of the Press
Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the chief editor of Jang Group of Newspapers was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau even before the opening of an investigation into an offence that allegedly took place more than three decades ago. This could not be a more blatant attack on the Freedom of the Press in violation of not just…
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Travesty of Democracy
Pakistan held its general elections in 2018, to select its third successive democratic government, after almost a decade of military dictatorship under the Musharraf era. Putting Things in Perspective Before the 2018 polls, when the PML-N was in power, the PTI protested: it alleged poll rigging and election engineering. The 2018 polls brought the PTI,…
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Is an Immoral Law a Good Law?
Is an Immoral Law a Good Law? The question may be a misleading one; to clear this, I will not look into what the words moral (or immoral) or good might mean in this context, I would rather define them just as we begin. Moral, in this context would be concerned with the principles of…
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Does Right to Life include a Right to End Life?
As part of my LLB, I wrote a research essay on Suicide and Assisted Suicide. The research essay was titled “Does Right to Life include a Right to End Life? Legal challenges to suicide and assisted suicide.” In the essay I explored the Right to Life, protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and…
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Shutdown to Rebuild, Wait, What?!
Shutdown to Rebuild, Wait, What?!? Seriously? What were the PTI’s creative team thinking when they came up with this slogan? On second thought, this might be perhaps the most clever way to present something that the party plans to do which happens to be so inherently outrageous and morally and legally unacceptable that the party…
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In Memory of the Slain
At SZABIST, the students held a candlelight vigil in memory of those slain in the name of blasphemy. Over the last month a Christian couple in the town of Kot Radha Kishan, some 60 kilometers southwest of Lahore were beaten and burnt to death after they were accused of blasphemy by their creditor, which was…
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Independence Day
Every year Pakistan celebrates its Independence Day with renewed sense of ‘patriotism’ and great enthusiasm and zeal. This ‘patriotism’ is limited to love of flying the National flag and decorating residences with miniature flags. This year, a very small minority took parts in ‘Azadi[1]‘ and ‘Inqilab[2]‘ marches from Lahore to Islamabad, in an attempt to de-seat…
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An Open Letter to Imran Khan
Dear Mr. Khan You rallied for change just a year ago in the 2013 General Elections. Your party bagged 7.7 million votes in the General Elections, which set your party as the 2nd most popular party based on the number of votes it received. Your call for change came at a time when the Election…
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Trial of High Treason
Whether General Pervez Musharraf’s régime was beneficial to Pakistan or was it tantamount to destruction of the democratic process, whether or not he was a good dictator; it is all a debatable matter.He, for the first time in Pakistani history, is going to trial for the heinous crime of High Treason. Pakistani history is marred…
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The Tsunami of Change
Before I begin writing this article, I must clarify, that the article below was not meant to offend anyone; I respect each and every individual’s right to have their own opinion, and their freedom of expression and association. The article also contains quoted statements and remarks of other individuals, whose opinions I neither endorse nor…