Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Social Order
- PART I Policing, Law and Violent Legacies
- PART II Southern Institutions and Criminal Justice Politics
- PART III Southern Narratives and Experiences: Culture, Resistance and Justice
- PART IV Conflicts, Criminalization and Protest in the New Neoliberal Internationalism
- Index
5 - Crossing Red Lines: Exploring the Criminalization and Policing of Sedition and Dissent in Pakistan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 January 2024
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Social Order
- PART I Policing, Law and Violent Legacies
- PART II Southern Institutions and Criminal Justice Politics
- PART III Southern Narratives and Experiences: Culture, Resistance and Justice
- PART IV Conflicts, Criminalization and Protest in the New Neoliberal Internationalism
- Index
Summary
Introduction
From the Crown to the colony
There are certain red lines that cannot be crossed. There are some things that cannot be spoken about because it may be construed as a national security threat. Your speech may first be seen as a ‘law and order problem,’ and then a threat to the nation. Then, the law may be applied on a whim. (Interview 02, lawyer, Lahore, 21 December 2021)
Whosoever by words, either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs, or by visible representation or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite feelings of disaffection to the Government established by law in British India, shall be punished. (Act XXVII of 1870 in Section V of the Indian Penal Code, 1870)
The law of sedition has been in place in South Asia since the mid-19th century and continues to be applied by states in the region more than seven decades after independence from colonial rule. Indeed, beyond South Asia, sedition laws remain in place in other former colonies too, including but not limited to, Nigeria, where the post-independence state readily accepted the law, and the courts restrained themselves from challenging it (Okonkwor, 1983); Malaysia, where it has been used by the government in its campaigns against human rights and anti-corruption activists (Kanna, 2020); and Hong Kong, where the once-dormant colonial law has been resurrected to criminalize ‘seditious publications’ and squeeze fundamental rights, particularly in the aftermath of protests against new national security legislations (Davis, 2022). Due to its continued designation as a political crime, and its undermining of fundamental rights and civil liberties, the criminalization of sedition and dissent at large demands further investigation through a critical criminological gaze.
We suggest that the growing application of the law of sedition, in conjunction with other legal frameworks and the extra-legal use of state force (through the police, paramilitary and other institutions), to suppress protests and social movements, a vibrant and critical media, and an active civil society, is symptomatic of persisting regime insecurity in postcolonial Pakistan, where successive governments have neither protected the interests of the masses nor ensured harmonious relations between state actors (such as civilian and military institutions), resulting in excessive reliance upon a broad range of legal instruments for curbing opposition from multiple platforms and power centres.
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- Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2023