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The writer is a freelancer based in Kandhkot, Sindh. He can be reached at alihassanb.34@gmail.com
Freedom of expression stands as the key that opens a society to intellectual growth, transparency, inclusive prosperity, tolerance and harmony. This is one of the reasons why the sociopolitical setting with inherent space for freedom of speech — i.e. democracy — has been the most sought-after in modern times. However, a democratic political model does not necessarily guarantee freedom of speech. That protection exists only in societies where democracy is practised transparently, the rule of law stands above both individuals and institutions, and neither is allowed to override the other. If it’s the other way around, the potential public check in the name of freedom of expression and dissent gets policed and criminalised — a phenomenon that causes democratic recession throughout the world, with Pakistan being no exception.
Pakistan today stands at unprecedented and alarming lows in terms of democratic rights and freedom of expression. The curbs on democracy and expression, interestingly, are not inclusive but disproportionate: the ones assaulting the rights of people, fabricating and peddling the narratives of the powerful enjoy an unbridled right to speech, regardless of any infringement of others’ rights. In other words, the curbs selectively get invoked only when exercising the right of voicing dissent, standing with the oppressed and questioning excesses and unconstitutionality.
The selective censorship leaves quite little, if any, room for truth and democracy in the country, where defiant voices are silenced or deliberately made to suffer.
In a country where every fountain pen is tethered to a powerful desk by a six-inch steel cable, writing the truth becomes a feat of moral and intellectual endurance. One’s daring to make fingers permanently bruised from pulling against the limit of one’s chain, trying to reach the edge of the page where the real story began — finds oneself on the chain, or silenced. This policing of dissent and criminalisation of democratic rights underscores a peculiar rot in the origin and operation of the power structure of Pakistan.
If obscurantism largely and inherently defines most other socio-political settings — authoritarianism, dictatorship — transparency delineates that of democracy. One of the distinguished tools and standards that democracy comes with and that aids in the accountable and transparent management of affairs is freedom of expression, dissent and questioning. If candid public assent empowers governments, logical dissent checks them against excesses, injustice and abuse of the public trust.
However, what if the obscurantism of dictatorship creeps in, evolves and clothes itself in democratic colour in a manner that, save the ritualistic elections and crown, and that too not that often, delegitimises and criminalises most of the key democratic tenets and rights? What if the logic, questioning and constitutional rights enjoined to the people turn out to incriminate them? And what if all liabilities of the empowered against the people, law and Constitution end up safeguarding them? Far from being mere suppositions, these are what practically operate under a democratic crown in our country.
It is incorrect to suggest that the rights and punishments enshrined in Pakistan’s Constitution and law are not being implemented. In reality, they are being strictly enforced. The only difference is that the punishments for the crimes of the elite and the powerful are being directly and indirectly imposed upon the oppressed public; meanwhile, the constitutional rights intended for the people are being fully enjoyed by the powerful and the elite. This is, among other things, the fact that, while people elsewhere are born free; in Pakistan, they are born enslaved, indebted and oppressed, with little, if any, hope. For salvation. For justice. For inclusive reforms and democratisation.
