EDITORIAL: While the latest judgements handed down by anti-terrorism courts were hardly surprising, given the direction of events in recent months, their timing, and magnitude have raised more questions than they’ve answered. Whatever the justification, and however one interprets the severity of the punishments, what’s beyond dispute is that the fallout will only deepen the very divisions that Pakistan can least afford right now.
That such an extensive wave of convictions should land at once, with opposition leaders in both houses of parliament sentenced to a decade behind bars, may signal procedural completion, but it leaves a political vacuum just when the country requires a more functional consensus. There remains persistent unease around the mechanics of these trials — particularly the evidentiary standards and speed of judgement — which, despite official assertions, have yet to win broader public confidence. Yet the state seems determined to press ahead, with the Election Commission acting swiftly to de-seat convicted lawmakers before their appeals could even be filed.
This is not merely a legal matter anymore. The implications reach into the very core of the political system, at a time when the economy is still fragile, regional alignments are shifting rapidly, and the country’s diplomatic relevance depends more than ever on internal stability. And politics reduced to winner-takes-all, enforced not just through the ballot box but also through the bench, is not built to navigate such times.
The consequences are already visible. With one major party facing political neutralisation and its top brass either in jail or at risk of arrest, the idea of even a token opposition is being replaced with something dangerously hollow. Parliamentary debates have thinned. Institutional credibility continues to erode. And while the government may find comfort in the predictability of court verdicts, it must also consider whether it is winning stability or simply buying time.
These are moments that should call for nation-building — serious conversations across the aisle, mutual concessions, and perhaps even new political compacts to take the sting out of an increasingly volatile national discourse. Instead, what appears to be taking root is a state-driven form of polarisation, where democratic competition is no longer mediated through institutions, but through a legal machinery that itself is under constant scrutiny.
Even the judiciary, once long ago held as the last line of fairness in political disputes, risks being seen as party to a process that many believe is selective in both pursuit and punishment. It is unfortunate, because faith in the legal system is fundamental not just to justice, but to governance.
At the core of this problem lies the refusal to accept that national strength today depends less on command and more on cohesion. The world is being redrawn by regional conflicts, resource shocks, and great power rivalries, and Pakistan must find ways to remain consequential. That demands a unified national front — political, economic, and institutional — not a fragmented one. But this objective seems increasingly distant when the political class is being sidelined piecemeal, and the political process itself hollowed out of real competition.
A more self-assured state would have chosen this moment to pursue reconciliation over retaliation. It is still not too late. Calls for a fresh political charter and truth commissions may seem lofty, but they reflect a growing demand from within society for something more constructive than recurring cycles of suppression. The state’s strength, after all, lies not just in its ability to punish, but in its capacity to lead.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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