Reporting and perspectives
News and opinion documenting people's movements across Pakistan.
Reports from across Pakistan
Peace activists gathered at the Wagah Border on the night of August 13–14, calling for dialogue, open borders and peaceful resolution of disputes between Pakistan and India. The vigil brought together a message of regional solidarity, shared history and hope for a more peaceful South Asia.
HRLP marked National Minorities Day with a dialogue on minority rights, discrimination and legal protections, presenting recommendations for greater representation and accountability.
Over 100 Students Gather in Lahore to Adopt Charter of Demands at Tulba Baithak
Civil Society, Students and political activists were arrested on Friday while holding a peaceful demonstration outside the press club to show solidarity with the Joint Action Committee of AJK.
On the Global Day to Fight Inequality, the Fight Inequality Alliance brought workers, students, artists and activists together in Lahore to demand economic justice. Discussions, poetry, theatre and collective action highlighted inequality, debt-driven policies and the rising cost of living.
Khalq Youth Front organized “Breaking Silence: Gender-Based Violence & Systematic Oppression in Pakistan,” bringing activists, lawyers and advocates together to discuss gender-based violence, institutional failures, systemic oppression and the need for accountability and justice.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has criticized the proposed Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, calling it draconian and warning of threats to civil liberties, due process and fundamental rights. HRCP urged lawmakers to reconsider the legislation.
Alliance to Combat Torture and Dignity Law Chambers organized a workshop ahead of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, focusing on custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, accountability and legal reform. Participants called for urgent changes to strengthen protections against abuse.
An opposition alliance hosted by Haqooq-e-Khalq Party held a National Conference on the Economy at Lahore Press Club, rejecting the federal budget as IMF-backed and pro-elite. Participants criticized its response to inflation, unemployment and the economic pressures facing working people.
Government employees gathered outside the Punjab Assembly during debate on the Budget 2026–27, demanding salary increases in line with inflation, pension protection and regularization of contract workers. Protesters opposed policies they said are worsening the economic pressure on public sector employees.
Mazdoor Kissan Party and Punjab Rickshaw Union protested the Federal Budget 2026–27, calling it anti-people and warning that higher sales taxes will disproportionately burden workers, peasants and low-income households while tax concessions benefit wealthy and corporate interests.
Mehrab Khalid, a second-year Film & TV student at the National College of Arts, has reportedly been missing since May 29. His family, classmates and fellow students continue to demand information about his whereabouts and question the silence surrounding his disappearance.
An FBR audit found that 1,026 taxpayers earning over Rs.150 million annually did not pay Rs.167.9 billion in Super Tax across 20 field offices. Despite repeated directives for recovery, the audit found limited progress and cited weak monitoring.
Teachers, students and lawyers gathered at Dyal Singh College to oppose the privatization of colleges and public institutions. Protesters warned that shifting education toward profit-driven models threatens accessibility and affordability and called for public education to remain a state responsibility.
The Progressive Students Collective organized a teach-in in Lahore marking 77 years since the Nakba. Students discussed the ongoing violence in Gaza and reaffirmed solidarity with Palestinians resisting displacement, occupation and colonial violence.
Haqooq-e-Khalq Party organized a workers’ rally in Lahore demanding a minimum wage of Rs70,000, effective social security and enforcement of labour rights. PTI leaders Salman Akram Raja and Asad Qaiser joined workers, while international speakers linked the struggle to resistance across the Global South.
Government workers marched from Town Hall to the Civil Secretariat, demanding answers over job cuts and unresolved disputes including leave encashment and Rule 17-A. Workers said promised findings following February’s protests remain unfulfilled, with no report or transparency from authorities.
Aurat March, students and civil society activists gathered outside the Karachi Press Club demanding accountability over the death of 21-year-old medical student Fahmeeda Laghari. Protesters condemned institutional silence over allegations of harassment, blackmail and threats.
Fight Inequality, Kissan Rabta Committee and Kissan Panchayat organized a tractor rally demanding fair Minimum Support Prices for crops and an end to corporate farming and land grabs. Farmers warned that current policies are deepening their economic crisis and threatening food sovereignty.
38 Tehreek and Progressive Students Collective, alongside civil society members, planted over a thousand trees on newly donated land near Kamran ki Bara Dari along the Ravi River. The initiative called attention to Lahore’s worsening air pollution, shrinking green spaces and unchecked urban expansion.
APMDD held a conference at the Lahore Press Club examining debt, austerity and climate injustice in the Global South. Speakers argued that international financial institutions deepen inequality through debt-driven policies and called for debt cancellation, climate reparations and people-centered development.
Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ain Pakistan (TTAP) held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club condemning the latest fuel price hike. Opposition leaders warned of further inflation and called for the financial burden to be shifted away from low-income households and onto wealthy beneficiaries of state subsidies.
Khalq Youth Front and Haqooq-e-Khalq Party held a candlelight vigil in Lahore condemning U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and calling on Pakistan to adopt an independent, anti-imperialist foreign policy.
Members of Aurat March and the Progressive Students Collective staged a protest in Lahore condemning U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, criticizing Pakistan's response to demonstrations, and calling for an independent, anti-imperialist foreign policy.
Analysis & voices
Every August, Pakistan turns independence into a sale. But beneath the celebrations lies a harder question: what does freedom actually mean and who gets to experience it?
The deep state is anxious of its own people and it is desperate to sustain itself. Read Now!
