Sanctioned Silence: Examining the Barriers to Freedom of Expression in Pakistan

Abstract Freedom of expression is a sacred right for the country’s citizens, which enables them to exercise and enjoy civil liberties. Unfortunately, Pakistan is a developing country where rights exist only on paper. The right to freedom of speech and expression is limited and restricted under state security, religion, order of the public, harmony, and in Judiciary’s honor within state institutions. These sanctions make the state ponder on an unanswered question, “When, how and to what extent can the right to freedom of expression be exercised and enjoyed? This year, Pakistan celebrated its 77th independence anniversary, however, the citizens remained restricted to enjoy their fundamental rights as a Pakistani citizen. This is because the state has imposed sanctions on the citizens, thus restricting them to enjoy free speech and freedom of expression. This study adopts a qualitative doctrinal research method, precisely, a normative judicial or library research that describes sanctions, for instance, the glory of Islam, security and defense of Pakistan, decency and morality, friendly relations with foreign states, contempt of court, and incitement to an offense that is misused and misinterpreted by the country nationals. Although, Pakistan is not a secular state, however, these sanctions, particularly religious sanctions have been massively misused, misinterpreted, and misinformed. Therefore, the right to free speech and expression must be duly implemented and practiced by the state government. However, this may only be possible if the state government aims to lift self-posed sanctions on individual’s rights.