Should a person ever be jailed for their beliefs or speech? The answer is a big fat no. In Pakistan, political or even unorthodox beliefs and speech have always been cause enough for detention. A political prisoner is someone who is jailed simply due to his or her political beliefs. From Faiz Ahmed Faiz to Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, political prisoners are a legacy of the brutal military regime, which has been pulling the strings all along, sometimes from the forefront and other times, hiding behind a weak civilian government. The latest of its victims seem to be Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) and Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), two worlds apart in their ideology yet united by the inhumane persecution.
Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister, and by far one of the nation’s most popular leaders has been behind bars since August, 2023. This imprisonment came as a surprise to absolutely no one. He himself had predicted it many times. But perhaps, the more decisive imprisonment had occurred months earlier, on May 9th, which had plunged the entire country into chaos. After the dramatic arrest of Khan, his fellow party leaders were either arrested or forced to leave the party. Many are still jailed to this day, some even within military courts, which Pakistan recently legalized on May 9th 2025 after the Supreme court ruled in favor of it. The fate of some 103 individuals, mostly protestors, now rests in the hand on the military. The judge, jury and executioner being the same military who these people were protesting against.
Along with Imran Khan facing over 100 different charges, the ex Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is also jailed. But what was most unprecedented in the political protests was the treatment of women. Tayyaba Raja, a female protestor at the time of May 9th 2023, was dragged by her hair as she stood toe to toe against a policeman. Since then many females have been incarcerated in jail, on and off, time and time again. Sanam Javed, a mother, wife and worker who has been in and out of jail since May 9th 2023, was arrested again on April 28th. Similarly Aliya Hamza and Khadija Shah have been treated the same way. Imran Khan’s own spouse, Bushra Bibi is in jail having faced multiple cases herself. Although, the most jarring has been the case of Dr. Yasmin Rashid, a 74 year old cancer patient, who has been in jail since 9th October 2023, despite her case having been declared null and void by the Lahore high court.
Going back to BYC, the matter is a lot more complicated. BYC was formed as a human rights organization, against state terrorism and enforced disappearances in Balochistan which is often confused with Baloch insurgent groups wanting independence for Balochistan through violent means like Baloch Liberation Army and Baloch Liberation Front. The leaders of BYC have faced many politically backed charges, including the recent arrest of Mahrang Baloch, the head of BYC and Nominee for the Nobel peace prize 2025 on charges of murder and terrorism. Mahrang herself has more enemies than supporters among the general public in this fight of hers against the injustices of The Pakistani state against the ethic Baloch.
The recent arrests happened after BLA, a Baloch militant organization rumored to be backed by India and RAW, hijacked a civilian train in Balochistan. Mahrung has been accused of ties with BLA and other militant organizations within and outside Pakistan, almost every Baloch political leader has, but no proof has been revealed yet. This is why her arrest on such outlandish charges is seen as purely political. The matter of Balochistan is truly confusing and complicated, but the extrajudicial killings and disappearences of Baloch have become normalized to an extent where it is terrifying and anyone speaking against it has been declared a terrorist.
The minute a country terms it’s opposition as either digital terrorists as in the case of PTI or literal terrorists in the case of BYC without any proof, it is no longer a democracy but something much darker. The only thing arresting political opponents does is increase the sense of deprivation among it’s supporters, who are usually major chunks of the nation. This alienation pushes forward violent resistance which then turns into real terrorism. After all, terrorism does not exist in a vacuum. Pushing political discussions to jails instead of assemblies of legislation just makes the problem ten times bigger and exposes the fears and insecurities of those in power. After all do secure and confident regimes, confident in their legitimacy, throw opponents into jails?