Editor's Picks
How My Daughter’s Trial Exposes Pakistan’s Assault...
My daughter, a human rights lawyer, and her husband are currently on trial in Pakistan under cybercrime charges for exercising what should be a...
Extremism watch
Why Balochistan’s Youth No Longer Trust Politics
I write this as the daughter of a Baloch nationalist leader and Pakistani parliamentarian who recently survived assassination attempts. What we are going through...
Opinion
In Islamabad, State’s Apathy on Full Display...
Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari writes about Baloch families — particularly women, children, and the elderly — who have been camped outside Islamabad’s National Press...
Editorial
Why a ‘Boycott Israel’ Campaign Cannot Work...
In Pakistan, calls for boycotts of international brands perceived to have ties to Israel, while seemingly intended as peaceful protest against the violence in...
Opinion
How The PPP Played Both Sides While...
Journalists across Pakistan are out on the streets protesting against The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act (PECA) 2025 and petitions against it are...
Opinion
Cholistan Farmers’ Longstanding Struggle for Land and...
Cholistan, a vast desert in Pakistan’s Punjab province, covers an area of 6.6 million acres and spans the districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, and Rahim...
Opinion
How Pakistan’s Peripheries Dissented in 2024
In 2024, democracy in Pakistan suffered setbacks on many fronts. Among these setbacks was the state’s denial — through heavy-handed and violent means —...
Opinion
Why Pakistan’s Establishment Is Afraid of Social...
Social media platforms, X in particular, are often demonized for spreading “fake news,” but what the harsh criticism of social media and the demands...
Opinion
Here’s Why The 26th Amendment to Pakistan’s...
The recently-passed 26th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, under which the Supreme Court's chief justice will now be selected by a parliamentary committee...
Opinion
Ex-Lawmaker Ali Wazir’s Continued Incarceration is Our...
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...
Editor's Picks
Pakistan Govt Is Hosting Televangelist Zakir Naik...
Every Pakistani political leader has known that cultivating popular religious icons is how one makes it to the top. Muhammad Ali Jinnah began this...
Human Rights
Banning PTM Sends a Dangerous Message to...
The government of Pakistan's decision to ban the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a social movement that originated from the country's peripheries, sends a troubling...
Opinion
Those Demanding Apologies from the Baloch Need...
There are many events that have contributed to the present crises in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, significantly shaping the mindset and attitudes of the...
Human Rights
Pakistan’s Establishment Is Abducting Poets And Plumbers...
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...
Election series
Here’s Why The Results Of Today’s Elections...
This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series on Pakistan’s general elections. Follow the series here. On Tuesday January 30, 1962, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a...
Election series
Explainer: Why Is Every Election In Pakistan...
This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series on Pakistan’s general elections. Follow the series here. With Pakistan’s general elections just three days away, the...
Election series
Is Imran-Bushra Iddat Case A Feminist Issue?
This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series on Pakistan’s general elections. Follow the series here. The recent sentencing of former Prime Minister Imran Khan...
Election series
Neither Free, Nor Fair: The 2024 Elections...
This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series on Pakistan’s general elections. Follow the series here. Any comment on the upcoming elections in Pakistan must...
Election series
Pakistan Is Violating Its International Obligations By...
This article is part of Dissent Today’s special series on Pakistan’s general elections. Follow the series here. In theory, Pakistan is a federal parliamentary democracy, which...
Election series
Do Pakistan’s Upcoming Elections Hold Any Credibility?
This article is part of Dissent Today's special series on Pakistan's general elections. Follow the series here. As Pakistan prepares for its general elections, the...
Opinion
As Pakistan Heads to the Polls, Sense...
As Pakistan gears up for the general elections scheduled for February 8th, a sense of disillusionment and skepticism about the future prevails in the...
Balochistan
The Latest Baloch Uprising Cannot Be Defeated
The atrocities inflicted on the Baloch people, including the disappearance of Baloch students, human rights activists, educators, professionals, and ordinary working people and tribesmen,...
Human Rights
Sending Afghan Refugees Back To The Violence...
For decades, Pakistan has been a sanctuary for Afghan refugees, earning international recognition and appreciation for its humanitarian efforts. However, a recent announcement from...
Editor's Picks
A Year After Mahsa Amini’s Tragic Death,...
On a late summer day, four days before her 23rd birthday, Mahsa Jina Amini was visiting her family in Iran's capital city of Tehran,...
Features
Indian, Pakistani Fishermen Continue to Fall Victim...
If 99 Indian fishermen incarcerated in Pakistani prisons had been repatriated last month as agreed, Jagdish Mangal might still be alive. Mangal was among the...
Also Read
Opinion
Labour Productivity In Pakistan: Why Are We Falling Behind?
This article is part of a series titled “Is there a way forward for Pakistan?” Read more about the series here. The scale of the economic...
News
Pakistan Decides To Launch New Military Operation Against TTP
Nine years after Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that displaced millions of people and claimed thousands of lives, the government...
News
Islamabad Guard Sentenced To Life For Raping Foreign National
A court in Islamabad has sentenced the security guard of a private company to life imprisonment for raping a foreign national. The Aabpara police had...
News
CTD ‘Picks Up’ Seven Of A Family From Balochistan
Seven members of a family were picked up from their house in Khuzdar, Balochistan allegedly by officials of the Counter Terrorism Department. Six were...
Latest articles
Extremism watch
Overlooking Homegrown Hate, Pakistan Hesitates to Call Islamabad Blast Anti-Shia Violence
ISLAMABAD - Just hours before a suicide bomber struck the Khadija Tul Kubra Shia...
Opinion
How Imaan-Hadi Conviction Marks the Death of Fair Trial in Pakistan
Last week, a trial court in Islamabad convicted human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir...
Commentary
PTI’s Ambiguous Rhetoric on Taliban Is Dangerous for Pakistan’s Counter-Extremism Efforts
This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Lauren Brown Fellowship. Islamabad -...
Editor's Picks
How My Daughter’s Trial Exposes Pakistan’s Assault on Human Rights
My daughter, a human rights lawyer, and her husband are currently on trial in...