14/08/2025
An open letter to Chief Justice Pakistan and the head of the Constitutional Bench
Supreme Court of Pakistan
August 13, 2025 - Two years after the arrest
From: Barrister Hassan Khan Niazi, Kot Lakhpat Jail
On the night of August 13, 2023 I was picked up in the midnight darkness from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was not an arrest, it was a kidnapping. No warrant, no charge, no court. For more than two months, my family didn't even know if I was alive or dead. I was made missing — just silence, darkness, and torture. Cut off from the world for months, endured the worst physical and mental torture. Imprisoned in solitude, deprived of the Qur'an, not allowed to meet family or lawyer. For weeks it wasn't certain that I would be myself again. Will I be able to see my loved ones or will only my dead body reach them.
I’ve never been presented in a court. Directly handed over to military court — in total disregard of the civil judicial system. No scrutiny, no oversight, no law, no constitution — just coercion and pressure.
Without any legal justification or transparency, I was picked to trial in military court. A political protest was suddenly made a felony under the Official Secrets Act of 1923—the same colonial law that was actually created for espionage. Still do not know that. Who came up with this ridiculous excuse.
Two years later, I am still in Kot Lakhpat Jail — convicted by military court, sentenced to ten years in prison, on a charge that is still wrapped in revenge and cover-up. In 2025, in a democratic country, a citizen will be secretly in military court. Punishment — without a transparent trial, without appeal — recalls the darkest age of dictatorship. This is not justice, this is political retaliation — and sadly, it is all happening in the presence of a judiciary that has sworn to protect our rights.
Even in jail we do not have the basic rights that are given to death sentence prisoners; treatment, legal contact with family, access to newspapers. No independent lawyer or human rights organization is allowed to meet. Hon'ble Chief Justice visited various prisons in the country. What if not the prison, one of the largest prisons. Even the Honorable Sessions Judge does not look at the "high security cell" in his visits where we are being held. We are also alone, silenced and isolated here.
We were not only deprived of a fair trial at an independent and impartial forum, but also the right to bail. The fundamental right to appeal — which is the pillar of justice — was also stripped. The Constitutional Bench has issued an independent appeal forum for civilians sentenced by military courts. The order was given, but the government has openly violated this order and the requests for contempt of the court have not been scheduled for hearing yet.
Some colleagues filed petitions against punishment in Lahore High Court on limited grounds, but they were not heard simply because they could not bring a certified copy of the decision of the military court. That decision is not present in any official record. His absence is This is the biggest evidence of the injustice of the lawsuit, but we still suffered the loss.
Above all, we were left totally helpless. Not because we broke any law, but because our political views are not liked by the current rulers. Deprived of every constitutional right for two years. No court is our cry. Listening. Petitions are eating dust in the files. The same judge, chosen by the system itself, hears our cases—how can justice be expected?
Today I am mourning not only for my freedom, but for the funeral of the constitution. The lawyers of the movement, which once stood for justice, is now buried under the burden of silence and reconciliation.
Honorable Chief Justice and Head of Constitutional Bunch! For God's sake don't blink. It's not just my case, it could happen to anyone tomorrow.
May Allah show us the path of truth and justice.
Hassan Khan Niazi
Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore.
13/08/2025
