PTI senators warn of 'moral decline' over treatment of political detainees

ISLAMABAD: Opposition lawmakers from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday told the Senate that Pakistan could face a moral decline if the state failed to protect human dignity and constitutional safeguards for people in custody, while also calling for complete transparency regarding the treatment of former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.

Speaking during the Senate session, PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Syed Ali Zafar said the issue went beyond any single individual or party and concerned the state’s broader moral standing. He said a country was ultimately assessed by the way it treated vulnerable people and those deprived of liberty, rather than by the authority of those in power or political rhetoric.

Ali Zafar said the matter involved basic human rights, the rule of law, constitutional supremacy and the protection of women’s rights. Referring to historical and literary examples, he cited the Greek tragedy Antigone and the address of Bibi Zainab in Damascus to argue that history showed dignity and truth endured while oppressors eventually fell.

"It not merely about one woman, one prisoner, or one political party, but about the moral character of the state itself," he said addressing the House.

He also warned that the weakening of women’s safety, press freedom, freedom of association, and the normalisation of torture and solitary confinement should be seen as signs of a deeper democratic crisis. Using the analogy of canaries once used by miners to detect toxic gases, he said these developments were warnings that democratic life itself was being poisoned.

"Power without humanity eventually destroys itself," Ali Zafar further told senators.

PTI raises rights concerns in Senate

Another PTI senator, Muhammad Azam Swati, also criticised what he described as the denial of fundamental rights to Bushra Bibi. He said Pakistan’s legal system guaranteed rights to all citizens and stressed that the Senate had been created not only to legislate but also to safeguard those rights.

The PTI lawmakers’ intervention focused on the treatment of detained political figures, with particular emphasis on Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. They demanded that the authorities ensure openness and accountability in how such detainees were being handled.

Government defends its position

Responding to the opposition’s criticism, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar defended the government’s handling of political detainees. He said the discussion on human rights in the Senate was being reduced to a limited number of individuals who were in judicial custody.

Tarar also called on the opposition to cooperate with the government on broader prison reforms rather than restricting the debate to a few cases.

"Let us work together to improve jails,' he said inviting joint work on the issue.

The exchange in the upper house reflected a sharp divide between the opposition and the government over the treatment of political detainees, with PTI senators framing the issue as a test of constitutional protections and state conduct, while the government urged a wider discussion on prison conditions and reform.