Pakistan spent September 6 celebrating its armed forces, with gun salutes, ceremonies and speeches praising the military's role in defending the country.
But as Islamabad marked Defence and Martyrs Day, a very different conversation about Pakistan's military and state institutions was unfolding outside the country.
In Paris, activists, journalists and representatives from several countries gathered outside the Pakistani embassy to challenge the official Defence Day narrative, accusing the military of enforced disappearances, political repression and human rights abuses.
The gathering, organised by the Dissident Club, founded by exiled Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui, brought together participants from 12 countries.
Speakers called for greater international scrutiny of alleged abuses involving Pakistan's military, particularly in Balochistan, Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Afghanistan.
The allegations came as established human rights organisations and United Nations experts separately raised concerns about Pakistan's treatment of religious minorities, lawyers and Baloch activists.
On September 7, UN human rights experts issued a particularly strong warning over the treatment of Pakistan's Ahmadiyya community.
The experts said Ahmadis continue to face harassment, criminal prosecution, violence and exclusion because of their religious identity.
They also expressed concern about attacks on Ahmadi places of worship and graves, and called on Pakistan to break what they described as a pattern of impunity surrounding violence against the community.
Pakistan's treatment of Ahmadis has long been controversial.
A constitutional amendment passed in 1974 declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Further restrictions introduced under General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s made it a criminal offence for Ahmadis to publicly present themselves as Muslims or use certain Islamic terminology and practices.
The latest UN intervention therefore concerns not simply individual attacks but a legal and political framework that has existed for decades.
At almost the same time, Amnesty International renewed its demand for the release of Pakistani human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha.
The two were arrested in January and subsequently convicted over social media posts under Pakistan's Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
According to Amnesty, their posts largely expressed solidarity with Baloch and Pashtun activists and criticised policies of Pakistan's military.
Amnesty says the lawyers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 17 years and describes their detention as arbitrary. Their appeal had still not been heard eight months later.
Mazari has represented several prominent Baloch activists and families of people allegedly subjected to enforced disappearance.
That issue has again returned to attention following the disappearance of Ammar Baloch, a fifth-semester social-work student at the University of Lahore.
The Baloch Students Council Punjab alleges that Ammar was detained by Pakistani security personnel in Lahore's Iqbal Town on September 3 and taken to an undisclosed location.
His whereabouts have not been publicly established, and Pakistani authorities had not confirmed the alleged detention in reports published by September 8.
The council says the case reflects a broader pattern of disappearances involving Baloch students and activists.
Amnesty International's latest assessment of Pakistan describes enforced disappearances as a significant human rights concern. Pakistan's own Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances recorded 125 new cases during the first half of 2025, while rights groups have argued that the actual number is considerably higher.
Amnesty has separately documented the case of Baloch student leader Jiand Baloch, who disappeared for 11 days in July before returning home in August. Amnesty said it was the third time he had been forcibly disappeared since 2018.
All of this formed an uncomfortable backdrop to Pakistan's Defence Day celebrations.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described September 6 as a “glorious chapter” in Pakistan's history and praised the armed forces for defending the country's sovereignty. President Asif Ali Zardari similarly celebrated the military's sacrifices, while Pakistan's leadership emphasised national unity and the fight against terrorism.
Pakistan is facing a genuine and increasingly dangerous security crisis. Militancy by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has intensified, while Baloch separatist groups have carried out deadly attacks against security forces and civilians.
The Pakistani military says its operations in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are necessary to combat terrorism and repeatedly accuses India of supporting militant groups, allegations New Delhi denies.
But that security argument lies at the centre of Pakistan's human rights debate.
Rights organisations argue that fighting insurgencies cannot justify enforced disappearances, secret detention, restrictions on peaceful dissent or the prosecution of lawyers and activists.
That is why the timing of this week's criticism is significant.
Pakistan's Defence Day asks the country to remember what its military has protected.
Its critics are increasingly asking a different question: who protects Pakistanis when the institution accused of violating their rights is the state itself?
