Today, August 4, 2025, the hearing of the case of Ayaz Butt, who has been imprisoned in Kotli Jail for two and a half months, was held in the District Court Kotli. Ayaz Butt was accused of making provocative statements against the state of Pakistan and the Pakistan Army on social media that fall under the category of rebellion against Pakistan. A case was filed against Ayaz Butt under Section 124 of the AJK Penal Code, but Ayaz Butt’s lawyers Nasir Masood and Ansar Muzaffar Advocate proved that there is no mention of rebellion or the Pakistan Army in Section 124.
When Ansar Muzaffar Advocate gave the law book to the PDSP and asked if there was a mention of the Pakistan Army in it, the government lawyer, after reading the section, agreed with the defense lawyer that he was right. Defense lawyer Ansar Muzaffar also asked the police whether anyone had complained to him that Ayaz Butt had made a statement against the integrity of Pakistan and the army on social media, to which the police could not give a clear answer. The defense lawyer then asked, on whose orders did you file a case against Ayaz Butt? There was also no satisfactory answer to this question.
In addition to the writer, several lawyers, friends and relatives of the accused Ayaz Butt were also present in the court. During this, the writer Qayyum Raja asked the defense lawyer to put a question if the prosecution was aware of Article 257 of the Constitution of Pakistan in relation to the Kashmir Issue. The police was also unable to answer this question and the judge agreed to the defense lawyer.
The discussion of the Ayaz Butt case was heard with great interest by the legal community, human rights representatives, journalists and representatives of civil society. Kashmiri leaders Sajjad Afzal, Imran Khan and their associates from other districts had also come specially to attend the heating.
Later, the recently formed Global Campaign for the Release of Freedom Fighters in Indian and Pakistani Jails paid tribute to Tanveer Ahmed and Zubair Bhatti for their fruitful six-day hunger strike and thanked lawyers Nasir Masood and Ansar Muzaffar for their free legal services. Dr. Liaquat Naqshbandi and Shaukat Mahmood Jaral, members of the Global Campaign for the Release of Prisoners, were also present on the occasion.
Quayyum Raja
The Global Campaign for the Release of Prisoners said that today’s decision will play an important role in restoring the dignity of the judiciary and public confidence in it and we hope that those trying to suppress the voices of freedom fighters and basic human rights seekers will learn from this decision and refrain from making baseless cases in the future. The committee said that it will play every possible role for the release of political prisoners in Gilgit-Baltistan and Indian jails, in which the Kashmiri diaspora will play an important role.
Quayyum Raja's full official name is Abdul Quayyum Raja, but the British press shortened his name when he was arrested in connection with an Indian diplomat kidnapped by his fellow KASHMIRIS in Birmingham in 1984 to save the life of a Kashmiri Hero Muhammad Maqbool Butt hanged by India and buried inside Tihar jail on 11 February 1984. Quayyum Raja is from Azad Jammu Kashmir administered by Pakistan. He acquired various qualifications from EU and UK, including a Master in Psychology & Social Sciences, Journalism and Modern World History. He supports both Pan Islam and Pluralism, which may sound a contradiction, but he claims he can draw a balance. Quayyum Raja spent about 22 years in British jail extra-juducially as a Kashmiri political prisoner. He was released by the European Court of Human Rights on 17 May 2005. He has travelled extensively both before his captivity and after his release.
