Pakistan slipping into authoritarian rule, warn country's lawyers

Lahore [Pakistan] December 7 : Pakistan's legal fraternity sounded an alarming warning, declaring that the nation "stands in its darkest hour" amid what they described as systematic attacks on democracy, constitutional freedoms, and the rule of law.

The statement came during the All Pakistan Lawyers' Convention (APLC), organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), as reported by The Express Tribune.

According to The Express Tribune, the gathering at the Javed Iqbal Auditorium of the Lahore High Court brought together senior members of the legal community, including Senator Hamid Khan, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, former Supreme Court Bar president Ali Ahmad Kurd, Lahore High Court Bar President Asif Niswaana, and several other legal luminaries.

The convention was convened to denounce the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments and the formation of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), which lawyers argued would weaken judicial independence and undermine the Constitution. The APLC passed a unanimous resolution rejecting both amendments and the FCC, describing them as attempts to consolidate power at the expense of democracy.

PTI-affiliated lawyers delivered powerful speeches, condemning the establishment's stranglehold over political and civil institutions. Advocate Salman Akram Raja lamented that Pakistan was gripped by unemployment, a collapsing education sector, and a broken healthcare system, asserting that "nothing in the country is functioning properly." He added that Pakistan was witnessing an "unprecedented crisis" on political, economic, and social fronts. Raja further accused the government of creating an environment where "truth has no space" and of turning the country into "a prison under the illusion of development," as cited by The Express Tribune.

Former Lahore High Court Bar Vice President Rabia Bajwa stated that Pakistan now stands divided between "the people and the institutions," arguing that lists from GHQ and the Senate now dictate who is a traitor and who is celebrated as a hero. Veteran lawyer Ali Ahmad Kurd and PTI Senator Hamid Khan also rebuked the military's interference in politics. Khan labelled the generals' recent press conference as "deeply shameful," asserting that the armed forces had overstepped their constitutional boundaries, as reported by The Express Tribune.

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