Please sign our letter here
As scholars and academics, we are alarmed by recent events in Pakistan. We condemn the state-sanctioned violence, murder and torture of protestors, use of sexual violence against women and men, curbs on media, bans on freedom of assembly and speech, and arbitrary arrests of thousands of political leaders and workers belonging to the main opposition party.
Following the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s elected government in April 2022, the ruling establishment has unleashed a reign of terror in a desperate bid to hold on to power, and deny the people of Pakistan a say in their future. The current government—backed, kept in power, and operated by the military establishment—is refusing to hold elections as mandated by the Constitution and ordered by the Supreme Court. The regime enjoys no popular mandate to rule and is depriving people of their right to vote, while seeking to eliminate the largest opposition party from the political arena.
Meanwhile, the people of Pakistan are facing an unprecedented onslaught on their civil liberties. Most recently, in flagrant violation of international human rights conventions, the military has announced its intention to establish military courts for trying civilians who protest and register their political dissent in the public domain, bypassing due process of law. The government has also attacked the judiciary, and court orders to release political leaders arrested under fabricated charges have been ignored. This is all occurring at a time when people are facing dire living conditions: over the last year, unemployment has spiraled, the currency has lost 55% of its value, and inflation has tripled.
We, the undersigned concerned scholars, write this open letter to express our solidarity with the people of Pakistan, and denounce attempts to impose a brutal and violent tyranny upon the country. The suspension of the rule of law, the use of state terror against the population, and the collapse of constitutional order is only deepening the political, economic, and social crisis in Pakistan.
Therefore we call upon the ruling establishment to:
- Restore civil rights: It is vital to restore and uphold the fundamental rights and liberties of the people of Pakistan. This includes protecting freedom of expression, assembly, and association, as well as ensuring the right to a fair trial and due process for all individuals. We further contend that audiences within and outside Pakistan have a right to access accurate information about newsworthy events, and demand immediate cessation of state interference with, and curbs on, press freedom.
- Release all political prisoners: We urge the regime to immediately release all political prisoners who have been detained without just cause or due process. The continued incarceration of individuals including journalists, lawyers, doctors, academics, and other civilians for exercising their constitutional rights violates international law and principles of justice.
- Cease efforts to use military courts for civilians: Trial of civilians under military courts represents a gross violation of the Constitution and contravenes international law. Legal proceedings must be pursued under the existing judicial system, which must be allowed to function without coercion.
- Investigate and prosecute officials who have violated and abused citizens: We demand independent and impartial investigations be carried out to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations. These include murder, torture, and use of sexual violence against political activists, journalists, and innocent civilians. The perpetrators must be brought to justice and victims provided reparations.
- Respect the democratic process, end military interference in politics, and hold elections immediately: The state should desist from banning or breaking up any political party and engage in introspection on the deep drivers of grievances and the absence of institutionalized mechanisms to channelize these grievances. In a country of 230 million people, with an increasingly young and urban population, there is a legitimate expectation that people should have the right to choose their leaders and government. The military’s continued interference in politics (courts, police, media, and political parties) consistently denies this right and public grievances are more likely to be directed at the Army. To avert imminent chaos, we demand that the ruling establishment must step back from this interference and hold timely, and free and fair elections, with all legitimate political forces allowed to contest.
Please sign our letter here
PLEASE NOTE: All signatories are being uploaded manually by only a few volunteers. Please be patient with us while we continue to update the list.
We have almost 500 signatories currently, we will be updating this information regularly. Some names have been withheld to ensure participants’ privacy and we especially applaud scholars based in Pakistan for their efforts.
Thank you all for the incredible support!
Signatories :
Noam Chomsky – University of Arizona/ MIT
Jeffery Sachs – Columbia University
Farhat Haq – Monmouth College
John L. Esposito – Georgetown University
Richard Falk – Princeton University
Lawrence Hamilton – University of the Witwatersrand and Cambridge
Steven Friedman – University of Johannesburg
Riffat Hassan – University of Louisville
Humeira Iqtidar – King’s College London
Masooda Bano – University of Oxford
Tamara Sonn – Georgetown University
Hamid Dabashi – Columbia University
Mahmood Mamdani – Columbia University
Joseph A. Massad – Columbia University
David Lelyveld – William Paterson University
Inaash Islam – Saint Michael’s College
Farah El-Sharif – Stanford University
Ali Anooshahr – University of California, Davis
Shabana Mir – American Islamic College
Zareena Grewal – Yale University
Dina M. Siddiqi – New York University
Mira Rastegar – New York University
Allan Aubrey Boesak – University of Pretoria
Yaseen Noorani – University of Arizona
Marthie Momberg – Nelson Mandela University
Hatem Bazian – UC Berkeley and Zaytuna College
Rula Jurdi – McGill University
Nader Hashemi – University of Denver
Patrick Bond – University of Johannesburg
Rasul Baksh Rais – Lahore University of Management Sciences
Katrina Daly Thompson – University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ashraf Adeel – Kutztown University
SherAli Tareen – Franklin and Marshal College
Mahan Mirza – University of Notre Dame
Hafsa Kanjwal – Lafayette College
Chandra Muzaffar – International Movement for a Just World
Mohja Kahf – University of Arkansas
Ovamir Anjum – University of Toledo
Medea Benjamin – Codepink
JM Kirby – MADRE
Kathy Kelly – World Beyond War
David Swanson – World Beyond War
Ulrich Duchrow – University of Heidelberg
Alparslan Açıkgenç – Uskudar University
Abdul Jabbar – City College of San Francisco
Zahra Sabri – Institute of Business Administration /Karachi
Robert Jensen – University of Texas at Austin
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad – Minaret of Freedom Institute
Haider A. Bhuiyan – University of North Georgia
Mohammad Fadel – University of Toronto
Muhammad Iqbal – University of British Columbia
Shaireen Rasheed – Long Island University
Ume L Abbas – University of Missouri
Saqib Ahmad – University of Karachi
Alain Gabon – Virginia Wesleyan University
Javed Malik – University of Rochester
Nida Arif – University of Delhi
Saad Khan – HEC Montreal
Abdul Haque Chang – Institute of Business Administration, Karachi
Blain Auer – Université de Lausanne
Faisal Haq Shaheen – Toronto Metropolitan University
Zain R. Mian – University of Toronto
Jeff Cohen – Ithaca College
Stuart Rees – Sydney Peace Foundation
Naila Azhar – University of Connecticut
Usman Tohid – University of South Carolina
Maria-Magdalena Pruss – Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
Ronald Pagnucco – College of St. Benedict
Alex Da Costa – University of Alberta
Robert Rozehnal – Lehigh University
Mohammad Waqas Sajjad – University of Management and Technology
Hasan Naqvi – University of Missouri/ Columbia
Zahida Malik – University of Southampton
Daniel Morgan – Santa Clara university
Gar Smith – Environmentalists Against War
Abdullah Ahsan – Istanbul Sehir University
Adnan Fateh – University of Central Punjab, Lahore
Rida Ashfaq – Lahore University of Management Sciences
Bizaa Zeynab Ali – New York University
David Swanson – RootsAction Education Fund
Osama Alsaleh – Harvard University
Ulrika Mårtensson – Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Junaid Israr – NUST Islamabad
Hassan Zaman – BZU Multan, Pakistan
Ali Syed – Charles Sturt University
Sohaib Ibrahim Khan – Occidental College
Peter Matthews Wright – Colorado College
Yaseen Baig – Ohio University
Kathy Kelly – World Beyond War
Alice Slater – World Beyond War
Tariq Malik – Brown University
James Redmond – University of North Texas
David Warren – Washington University in St Louis
Rev. Richard L. Hamm – Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada
Rev. Brian K. Muzas – Seton Hall University
Anusheh Yunus – UCL/ SOAS
Zahid Bukhari – Center for Islam and Public Policy (CIPP)
Hussam Badi – American University of Sharjah
Abdullah Tariq – University College of London
Javad Ahmed Raheel – Purdue University
Shiraz Ali – University of California, Berkeley
Syed Ismail – AS&M Hampton
Usman Khan – Imperial College London
Nadia Khan – University of Chicago
Hasham Azhar – University of Sydney
Naseem Aftab Khan – Ohio Wesleyan University
Syed Shaan-e-Ali Mehdi – University of Ottawa
Maham Ashfaq – American University
Nasim Basiri – International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences
Mehmood Irfan – RMIT University
Zainab Rao – University of Münster
Annia Mirza – University of Cambridge
Sabeena Shaikh – McGill University
Kashif Ali – Aalborg University Denmark
Marzia Raza – University of Heidelberg
Muhammad Khan – Dalhousie University
Muhammad Zia – University of St. Andrews
Noman Husainie – University of Toronto
Jamal Tariq – Boston University
Khan Muhammad Tariq – Hong Kong university
Syeda Beena Butool – Florida State University
Rana Hussain – NHS
Zaheer Uddin – Center for American Muslim Research and Information
Umar Farooq Ghumman – Northwestern University
Yasir Khan – Hanken School of Economics
Nabit Bajwa – George Mason University
Sam J Khan – New York University
Sauleha Kamal – University of York
Muhammad Asad Saleem – Florida International University
Dr Shariq Najeeb – University of Ottawa
Salwa Tareen – Boston University
Junaid Hassan – Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Khizzar Shaukat – Tufts University
Dr. Azhar Hussain – Everglades University
Bisam-Ul Haq – Cambridge University
Autumn Wibright – Brandeis University
Wardah Alkatiri – UNUSA Indonesia
Osama Alsaleh – Harvard University
Sadaf Latafat – University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Adil Zaman – University of Gujrat
Muhammad Shahzeb Ali – Ohio University
Nadim Muhammad – University of California
Anisa Yousuf – Brandeis University
Ume L Abbas – University of Missouri
Hassan Ijaz – Tufts University
Hasan Naqvi- University of Missouri
Javed Badshag – Islamia University Peshawar
Shanzae A. – Kings College London
Rai Mansoor Imtiaz Khan – University of York
Sabeen Ovichegan – Harvard University / University of Oxford
Sheikh Maaz – Iqra University
Altaf Qadir – University of Peshawar
Rabiea Javid – University of Leeds
Khadija Nadeem – Agha Khan University
Irfan Siddiqui – New York University
Safa Naseem – New York University
Jan Michiel Otto – Leiden University
Abdul Nadir -University of Arizona
Muhammed Junaid – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Syeda Haleema Hasan – Georgetown University
Muhammad Umair – Pace University, New York
Farrukh Hakeem – Shaw University
Syed Zaidi – Louisiana State University
Saira Hassan Khan – DePaul University
Gulmina Ayaz – Paderborn University
Navaid Khan – Binghampton University
Areeba Fatima – Greenwich University
Meena Nadeem – University of Huddersfield
Azmat Zahara – University of Karachi
John Nicholson – University of London
Ihtesham Jadoon – COMSATS University Islamabad
Fareena Malhi – Lahore School of Economics
Mukhtiar Ghani – University of Peshawar
Maaz Ahmed – University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
Azfar Shaikh – New York University
Imaan Hilaly – New York University
Danyal Saeed – University of Illinois, Chicago
Jovita Alvares – University of Illinois, Chicago
Whitney Bodman – Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Muhammad Ali – Lahore University of Management Sciences
Zahra Khan – Columbia University
Farah Adeed – Boston University
Ifra Javed – Lahore School of Economics
Seema Khan – Deakin University
Qurat ul Ain Syed – Emory University
Muhammad Souman Elah – UCLA
Yahya Habib – Princeton University
May Zhexi Qiao – New York University
Moeed Pirzada – Global Village Space
Julia Pastreich – Harvard University
Mariam Ahmad – Stiftung Mercator GmbH
Sarah Lodhi – Wageningen University, Netherlands
Salman Yousaf – University of Sharjah
Muhammad Rafey Jameel – Vlerick Business School
Riaz Rahaman- SUNY Stony Brook University
Ghulam M Awan – University of South Alabama
S. Hasan Naqvi – University of Missouri, Columbia
Amna Adnan – American University
Surrayya Najeeb – NHS
Muhammad Arslan Shehzad – Northwestern University
Rafique Wassan – University of Sindh, Pakistan
Saad Obaid – Julius-Maximilians~Universität Würzburg
Sharmeen Ahmed – Austin Community College
Ilsa Abdul Razzak – University of Washington, Seattle
William E. Shepard – University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Rafiq Fris – IUASR Rotterdam
Mirza Aslam Beg – The Salaam Network Inc. (Louisville)
James Tompkins – University of Louisville
Douaa Moosvi – Sheridan College
Attabik Awan – Eindhoven University of Technology
Nabiha Asghar – University of Waterloo
Asad Khan – The University of Edinburgh
Ann Barrott Wicks – University of Miami
Briana Barner – University of Maryland
Muhammad Ghazi – Duke University
