In a landmark judgement, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has declared the sedition law (Section 124-A of the Pakistan Penal Code) unconstitutional, annulling it.
The law states: “Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Federal or Provincial Government established by law shall be punished with imprisonment for life to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”
Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC announced the judgement while hearing a set of petitions filed by citizens challenging the sedition law.
The petition stated that the law is exploited by the government authorities and is used to silence political opponents.
In 2020, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Mian Raza Rabbani also submitted a bill to the Senate Secretariat, seeking an amendment to the British colonial-era sedition law.
The bill moved by the PPP leader that Section 124-A is part of the inherited colonial structure of governance that continues in Pakistan.
This law served as a brutal occupying force and today is being applied with increasing regularity to crush political dissent and make the citizen submit to unquestionable obedience, the bill had stated.
 has annulled Section 124-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, commonly known as sedition law which convicts those who criticise the government, and declared it unconstitutional. ){kind=link}