Guardians or captors: the two faces of humanity

ON May 26, 2026, an elephant named Happy died at the Bronx Zoo in New York after more than 50 years in captivity and over two decades in effective solitude. Her death marked the end of a difficult life, but it also invites reflection on a legal and moral journey that connected a captive elephant in New York to a constitutional courtroom in Islamabad. To understand Happy’s significance, it is necessary to begin not with animals, but with human beings. When I assumed office as chief justice of ...

By [email protected] (Athar Minallah)