The tried and true smart lockdown policy might not work for the recent COVID-19 wave in which the UK variant, a far more transmissible mutation of the original virus, is wreaking havoc in Pakistan.

The murders of Osama Satti in Islamabad, Sultan Nazeer in Karachi and Muhammad Waqas Ahmed in Faisalabad at the hands of law enforcement agencies point toward a system that is content with its history and unofficial policy of brutal police violence meted out to the very people it is meant to protect. Is justice even achievable for innocents caught in the crosshairs?

After days of radio silence on the government's end, the Baloch missing persons camp took to Islamabad's D-Chowk to stage a sit in. Joined by parliamentary leaders, civil society activists and student groups, the protest is their last ditch effort to ensure the release and return of their loved ones.

February 15th, 2021; By Ahmed Saeed & Shahrazad Agha; FAISALABAD; Shazia*, 16 years & Sania*, just 12 years old, were both abducted & repeatedly raped but despite fighting hard for justice early on, the family has now become disillusioned.

February 14th, 2021; By Umar Bacha; HUNZA; She bore nine years of heartache, waiting for the day her fiance would finally walk a free and exonerated man.

February 9th, 2021; By Hamid Riaz; LAHORE; Farmers’ Leader, Chaudhry Anwar was detained inside a police van in Lahore for 12 hrs. Senior police officials threatened him with severe consequences if he fails to call off a farmers’ protest scheduled for the end of this month.

February 3rd, 2021; By Hamid Riaz; LAHORE; An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Peshawar granted to police, three-day physical custody of arrested social activist Professor Muhammad Ismail, a focal person of the Pakistan NGOs Forum. Yesterday the ATC had rejected Prof. Ismail’s pre-arrest bail plea in a “terror financing case” registered against him by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) following which he was handcuffed and taken into custody by the CTD from the court’s premise.  

January 24th, 2021; By Hamid Riaz; LAHORE; Sanghar resident Abdul Sattar Awan has been missing for over 2 months. In a petition filed before the Sindh High Court his brother claims that Sattar was abducted by the police. Police has failed to produce Sattar despite High Court's orders.

January 13th, 2021; Staff Reporter; LAHORE; Summons, fines & threat of arrests in 2021 has seen a series of actions taken by the higher courts against the govt's inability to recover victims of enforced disappearance.