Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The Pakistani sedition statute has been declared invalid by the Lahore High Court because it is incompatible with the country’s constitution. As a result, Section 124 A of the Pakistani Penal Code is no longer valid.
Section 124 A of Pakistan’s Penal Code defines sedition as, “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”.
The Indian Penal Code has the same section that deals with sedition. Indian activists and even the Supreme Court have often highlighted concerns about this section, stressing that the law may be arbitrarily applied by the government against dissenters. The Apex Court suspended the sedition statute in 2022 while the Union government thought again about whether it should be in place.
Due to colonial antecedents, which also apply to India, disaffection towards the government is punishable under Pakistani law. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reports that Justice Shahid Karim, who heard similar petitions seeking to overturn the sedition legislation, delivered the Lahore High Court’s decision.
In one of the petitions, it was stated that the Pakistani constitution’s fundamental rights of freedom are violated by the sedition statute. It was also claimed that Pakistan used the law as a “notorious tool for the suppression of dissent,” and that it has also restricted the freedom of speech and expression protected by Article 19 of the Pakistani constitution.
Numerous politicians, journalists, and activists have been arrested for violating the sedition statute including Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahbaz Gill, Mohsin Dawar, Ali Wazir and journalists Arshad Sharif, Khawar Ghumman, Adeel Raja and Sadaf Abdul Jabbar.