Hamid Mir
This was a voice message from a distressed mother. The grieving mother has been struggling in the courts for the recovery of her missing son, Mudassar Naru, for the past seven years. Mudassar Naru was a journalist and poet. In 2018, he posted one of his Punjabi poems on Facebook, which angered the powerful people of that time. Mudassar Naru had also objected to the results of the July 25, 2018, election. So, he was reported missing on August 20, 2018. His son Sachal was only six months old at the time. Mudassar Naru’s wife Sadaf ran around looking for her husband, carrying the six-month-old baby in her arms, but her husband was nowhere to be found. In this difficult time, Iman Mazari filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court against Mudassar’s disappearance. After some time, Sadaf also died mysteriously, and Mudassar’s mother began to be seen in the corridors of the Islamabad High Court with her grandson Sachal. Now the only support of this sad mother was Iman Mazari, through whose efforts the court had summoned (then) Prime Minister Imran Khan on the issue of Mudassar Naru’s disappearance. The Prime Minister promised that Mudassar would be recovered, but the promise was not fulfilled. When Imran Khan’s government ended. Shahbaz Sharif became the Prime Minister. The court also summoned him; Shahbaz Sharif himself came to the Islamabad High Court in 2022 and promised Mudassar Naru’s mother and son Sachal in the court that he would recover Mudassar Naru very soon. This promise of the Prime Minister has not been fulfilled till date, but the lawyer Iman Mazari, because of whom he had to come to the court and make a false promise, has been arrested and sentenced to 17 years in prison, her lawyer husband Hadi Chatha also have been sentenced to 17 years in prison and a total fined of Rs 36 million. This sentence seems low and someone’s anger seems high, that is why Mudassar Naru’s helpless mother asks me if Iman and Hadi were terrorists? Why so much anger at them? Mudassar Naru’s elderly mother and ailing father came to Lahore from Faisalabad to protest the arrest of Iman Mazari and her husband. They stood outside the Press Club holding banners for a long time. Mudassar Naru’s journalist friends, along with their friends, raised slogans in the favour of Iman Mazari and went back. They did what they could. Iman Mazari was the last hope of these elderly parents. This last hope has been sentenced to 17 years in prison. This sentence has been given under the PECA Act. Ironically, Iman Mazari’s mother, Dr. Shireen Mazari, was a federal minister in Imran Khan’s government and cases were filed against Iman during that period as well. Iman often criticised the PTI government and her mother used to say in her defence that she cannot impose any restrictions on her daughter’s political views. Then, when Imran Khan’s government changed, many of her colleagues also changed.
A false case was filed against Dr. Shireen Mazari to change her political allegiance. When she got bail in this case, she was arrested in another case. Due to this injustice, Iman Mazari said some harsh things about the then Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Bajwa Sahib got angry. On May 26, 2022, a case was registered against Iman Mazari at the Ramna police station in Islamabad on the request of an officer. She was also arrested. When the case reached the court, Iman’s lawyer Zainab Janjua expressed regret over the words said about General Bajwa and the court disposed of the matter. In September 2023, another case was registered against Iman and then this series continued. Due to weak and baseless cases, Iman used to get released after arrest, but then the PECA Act 2025 was passed.
The 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments became a law. When the hearing of the cases under the PECA Act began, Iman thought that she would be sent to jail for six to seven months. Perhaps she did not realise that her crime was very serious. She was not only rude but had summoned two prime ministers into court. Many powerful people did not want to see her face. Therefore, by sentencing Iman and Hadi to a sentence greater than life imprisonment and imposing a heavy fine due to this anger, the message has been given that Pakistan has become a hard state for soft people. These soft people are those who do not pick up guns to implement their ideology but rather engage in peaceful political and legal struggle. When the state treats even such soft people like terrorists, then understand that the state has become weak due to its anger. Iman Mazari’s opponents call her an accomplice of terrorists. They claim that those who support Iman Mazari will also be taught a lesson soon. They should remember that Pakistan cannot be made strong by sentencing a pregnant lawyer to 17 years in prison. To strengthen Pakistan, it is necessary for the state to give justice to the grieving mother of Mudassar Naru. This mother is a representative of thousands of grieving mothers who are being pushed from Baluchistan to Kashmir for their missing loved ones. Mudassar Naru’s son Sachal is now seven years old. Just think about this seven-year-old child, who will he stand with after ten to twelve years? Will he stand with the anger of state institutions, or will he stand with Iman Mazari? Those who call Iman Mazari an accomplice of terrorists, please also tell me that if Iman Mazari is an accomplice of terrorists, then what act of terrorism has Mudassar Naru’s grieving mother committed? If you had rescued Mudassar Naru, no Prime Minister would have had to bother coming to court and making false promises to his old mother and young son. If anyone thinks that after sentencing Iman Mazari and Hadi Chatha to 17 years in prison, criticism of this government and its institutions will decrease and people will hold their tongues for fear of arrest, then this is a big delusion. I know educated people who do not belong to any political party but are very disappointed with the current situation. They say that we have only two options left. Either leave Pakistan and if we want to stay in Pakistan, then we will have to prepare for 34 years in prison, not 17 years. It is not necessary to go to jail for this long sentence because the conditions inside and outside the prison were not much different. History shows that rulers who imprison their opponents and critics in prisons on false charges never live the life of China because the curse of some sad mother will land them in jail one day.
