June 24, 2026
ISLAMABAD – Parliamentary supremacy should not be a slogan that is invoked cynically and selectively. If it is to mean anything, it should be ensured that elected representatives are able to speak and be heard, and worry only about the electorate’s judgement, not the government’s. It is regrettable that the current rulers’ antipathy towards the opposition seems to be overriding their commitment to political processes.
That same antipathy towards the opposition surfaces in the judiciary as well. It is unfortunate that several senior PTI leaders have again been handed hefty sentences, adding to a pattern of legal actions against the party that its supporters — and many neutral observers — regard as politically motivated.
Last Saturday, a Lahore ATC handed 10-year prison sentences to Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, Ejaz Chaudhry and Omar Sarfraz Cheema in a case arising from the burning of police vehicles during the May 9 unrest.
They were convicted just days after urging opposition leaders, through a letter from jail, to “engage constructively” with the prime minister on a “Charter of Pakistan”.
If political dissent is treated as something that cannot be tolerated, there will be no way out for the country from its current political troubles.