PTI warns of ‘moral collapse’ over treatment of political detainees

ISLAMABAD: Lawma­kers from the opposition PTI on Monday warned that Pakistan risked a “moral collapse” if the state failed to uphold human dignity and constitutional protections for those in custody, and demanded full transparency over the treatment of former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.

Speaking during a Senate session, PTI’s parliamentary leader in the House Barrister Syed Ali Zafar said the matter was “not merely about one woman, one prisoner, or one political party, but about the moral character of the state itself”.

He said that a nation was ultimately judged by how it treated the vulnerable and those deprived of liberty, not by the power of its rulers or the volume of its slogans.

Citing the Greek tragedy Antigone and the historic address of Bibi Zainab in Damascus, he said history had consistently shown that “dignity and truth survive forever while oppressors are ultimately destroyed”. “Power without humanity eventually destroys itself,” he told the House.

Drawing an analogy to miners using canaries to detect toxic gases, Mr Zafar said the erosion of women’s safety, press freedom, freedom of association, and the normalisation of torture and solitary confinement were “warnings that poison has spread into democracy itself”.

“This is a matter of fundamental human rights, the rule of law, constitutional supremacy, and the protection of women’s rights,” he said.

Another PTI leader Senator Muhammad Azam Swati also decried denial of fundamental rights to Bushra Bibi. He said Pakistan’s legal framework guaranteed rights to all citizens and stressed that the upper house was created not only for legislation but also for the protection of those rights.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar defended the government’s handling of detained political figures, saying the debate on human rights in the Senate was being narrowed to a few individuals in judicial custody.

The minister invited the opposition to work with the government on prison reforms, saying: “Let us work together to improve jails.”

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2026