Babar Sattar
The News
Pakistan
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Past articles by Babar:
Rule of law or force?
Why would a judge open himself to such criticism at the end of a fairly reasoned opinion is a wonder. → Read More
Are we gangsters?
We seek inspiration from the fact that this country was founded by a lawyer who viewed constitutionalism and the law as a source of protection for ordinary people and those practising the law as facilitators of the rights of others and not apologists for mobocracy. → Read More
Presidential-plus
Our zeal for a presidential system is abiding. Those who are critical of democracy for being unsuited to the ‘genius of our people’ but who also can’t support autocracy openly... → Read More
Our system at work
An Anti Terror Court letting CTD officials walk free after the Sahiwal slaughter of innocent citizens isn’t the system malfunctioning. It is the system working as it is supposed to.Our system... → Read More
Due process as faith
Pakistan suffers from an affliction: its abiding faith in hanging a few folks at the stake as a solution to complex problems confronting society. Whether it is terrorism or child molestation or... → Read More
Why we need speeches
That many of us are unable to give Imran Khan due credit for his influential New York trip and his speech at the UN reflects the kind of bitter and divided polity we have become.That IK might have... → Read More
The right to dignity
Article 14 of our constitution declares citizens’ right to dignity inviolable. But much like Article 9 guaranteeing liberty, Article 14 sits smugly within the constitution essentially to mock... → Read More
New judicial year
The ceremony marking the new judicial year in September provides an opportunity to flag the achievements, regrets and aspirations of the Supreme Court.The speech given by Chief Justice Khosa has... → Read More
Tyranny of the majority
Kashmir today manifests the tyranny of Hindu majority rule in India. When democratic structures were being designed in the West, some had warned that majorities wield biases and can act upon them to... → Read More
Speech as a luxury
The gap between the theory and practice of law (ie between what the law says and what is implemented) is a manifestation of power relations within a polity. Our ruling power elite does not believe that the right to free speech protects undesirable speech too. It believes that undesirable speech will mislead naïve citizens and must be suppressed. → Read More
The Pak-US reset
In the backdrop of our partnership with Trump’s America, we can expect to see authoritarianism here claiming even more space and leverage to curb liberties for what we will be told is national interest. So gear up folks and get indigenous. This is going to be a long and hard one. → Read More
2019: the unspeakable
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows” — said George Orwell in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’.Is this really what... → Read More
Dignity of justice?
A week ago, the PML-N made damning allegations about how certain convictions were procured from and delivered by accountability Judge Arshad Malik against Nawaz Sharif.The allegations, if true,... → Read More
Checks and balances
After a semester of trying to understand and debate the scheme of separation of powers in the US constitution at Harvard Law School, a fellow student asked our professor which design was best to... → Read More
Shrinking rights?
Asif Zardari has been arrested. Nawaz Sharif is serving out his jail term pending appeal hearings. NAB has arrested opposition leader Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz.Opposition leader National... → Read More
The price of autonomy
What is at stake here is not just judicial accountability but also judicial independence. Judicial accountability isn’t about lobbing dirt in some direction with the hope that some of it might... → Read More
Something’s gotta give
With the economy in freefall and the diminishing ability of the majority of households in the country to balance their budgets and run their kitchens, many ask if the Tabdeeli experiment will last... → Read More
The Pak-Turk saga
Wrestling control of Pak-Turk Schools from the Pak-Turk Education Foundation and handing them over to the Maarif Foundation should be taught as a case study in how the distinction between rule of... → Read More
Legal tribalism
We won’t allow a change in procedural or substantive law that threatens our political economy. We won’t allow any change that reduces our nuisance value. We, the legal fraternity, like all other entitled tribes in Pakistan, will talk a good game but won’t walk the talk. → Read More
Barbecue or eggs?
There are three issues that need to be mulled over: our narrative around corruption; our approach to competence; and our disregard for certainty. → Read More