Sunday, August 16, 2026

Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir

The writer is an Islamabad-based lawyer and human rights activist.

In Islamabad, State’s Apathy on Full Display as Baloch Families Hold...

Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari writes about Baloch families — particularly women, children, and the elderly — who have been camped outside Islamabad’s National Press Club for over a month, demanding accountability and justice in the face of enforced disappearances and the culture of impunity...

The Untold Plight of Over 700 Jailed Pakistanis Trapped in Blasphemy...

Since August of this year, my husband and I have been representing over a dozen victims of a criminal gang in Pakistan that traps young people in blasphemy cases, leading to their arrest. We have witnessed firsthand the climate of fear in which victim...

Ex-Lawmaker Ali Wazir’s Continued Incarceration is Our Collective Failure

One has lost count of how many times Pakistan’s former lawmaker, Ali Wazir, has been arrested or forcibly disappeared. Even when he was a member of the National Assembly, he was not spared from persistent targeting by the state. It is important to remember...

Pakistan’s Establishment Is Abducting Poets And Plumbers To Silence Dissent

Weeks after the recent protests against the rising prices of wheat and electricity in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, several people of Kashmiri origin in various parts of Pakistan have faced intimidation and threats, according to Kashmiri activists. On May 15, at around 1 a.m., Kashmiri poet and...

Enforced Disappearances of Baloch Students and State’s Criminal Role

In December 2021, an assistant sub-inspector stationed at Secretariat Police Station Islamabad asked students of the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, to collect personal data/information of their fellow Baloch students. Thereafter, in February 2022, a serving army officer, Major Ghulam Murtaza (belonging to Khuzdar Cantonment)...

Trial By Firing Squad: Prosecuting Civilians in Military Courts is Unconstitutional

Pakistan has been a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 23 June 2010. Unfortunately, however, even in 2023, the civilian and military elite have yet to read the Covenant. Article 14 of the ICCPR safeguards the right...

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Chiniot Police Book 5...

CHINIOT: Five Ahmadi community members have been charged with blasphemy while one of them was arrested in Chiniot Saturday...

Explainer: Why Is Every...

This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series on Pakistan’s general elections. Follow the series here.  With Pakistan’s general elections...

Human Rights Commission of...

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed concerns over a law seeking stricter punishment for ‘ridiculing and...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Policeman Killed...

A policeman was killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in a terrorist attack at a police check post. The KP Police...

Forced Conversions, Faith Declaration...

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has raised concerns over the "continued" marginalisation of minorities, saying the recent...

Locals Claim One Civilian...

Locals have claimed that one civilian was killed and three were abducted during a military operation in Awaran, Balochistan,...

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