Legal system still treats citizens as subjects: experts

When journalist and researcher Nazish Brohi visits Sea View around Independence Day she asks people what it means to them. "They refer to freedom from Indians or Hindus. Rarely do they mention independence from the British." Many people fail to acknowledge that true independence should also mean 'azadi' from the British Raj.

Brohi was speaking at a conference on 'Decolonizing the Law: Human Rights and Legal Reform in Pakistan' organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Thursday.

Pakistan may have achieved independence from the British 78 years ago but its legal system still operates in the shadow of colonialism.

Brohi observed that Pakistan's legal and political order still carries the baggage of a colonial "civilising mission". The state continues to treat its people as "riaya"-subjects to be ruled-rather than as "shehri," equal citizens with rights.

"These laws were created by the British to maintain control over the population, and we are still operating under the same legal framework today," said the HRCP's secretary-general, Haris Khalique. Imagine, the Pakistan Penal Code was introduced over a century and a half ago and still dictates law and order, as was the Criminal Procedure Code (circa 1898).

Colonial-era regulations clash with democratic aspirations whether they are sedition laws or penal codes, he said.

"Turning a blind eye to violence against minorities while using 124-A to stifle legitimate dissent reeks of selective law enforcement," said Asfandyar Katchela, a law student at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

He traced the section's evolution, noting that sedition wasn't even in the first 1860 code - it was added in 1870 by James Fitzjames Stephen and expanded in 1898 by Justice Strachey to cover even 'hatred' and 'contempt'. The provision, he said, has mutated through Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) which is being invoked to silence online dissent and journalists.

England scrapped the offence in 2009, with other countries such as New Zealand and Australia following suit. Pakistan, meanwhile, carried with Strachey's much criticised interpretation, he added.

Lawyer Simra Sohail noted that vague restrictions provide room for manipulation and misuse. Legal counsel Sheikh Sibghat Ullah argued that PECA is fundamentally a tool of surveillance. Journalist Mazhar Abbas emphasized the judiciary's role in stamping these laws, while former Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar called for a break from colonial frameworks.