You won’t be surprised to hear this from me, but IMO if you do not allow a legitimate space for even unfair criticism, then that criticism doesn’t disappear, it gets worse and takes all sorts of forms that are outside the reach of the state.
Our history is full of examples of people naively trying to make Pakistanis fill one national mould. One unit nation, Zia era social engineering, disenfranchisement of Bengal, constant political engineering, weakening of provincial autonomy, etc. These are all contentious topics, but history is full of them. Whenever we’ve attempted this, it’s always blown up in our face. Dissidents are annoying sure, but they’re a vital part of any pluralistic society, especially a democracy.
And please allow me to say categorically, that Pakistan is pluralistic by its nature, whether we like it or not. Even something as trivial as geography means people and their outlook will differ. The drought starved man in Thar lives a slightly different reality to the shepherd whose village flooded in the North due to glacial collapse.
Living in the British isles, I can see that there are several nations, cultures, and languages. UK and Ireland despite similar culture and language are separate entities. As a result of the diversity even in the UK, some power is devolved to local assemblies, dissension is allowed to the point that the Scots even today are planning to force another referendum. Nobody bars their movement. Pakistan is FAR FAR more diverse, we’re a much bigger country made up of multiple smaller nations and peoples, we will inevitably have dissenters, thorny political characters, nationalists, ideological outsiders etc.
They must all be allowed to run their course (within the reasonable limits of the law and constitution), giving them no space always causes foreign spoilers to take advantage, agreeable dissidents can become deeply cynical. We should grow a thick skin, Pakistanis will always in the end unite when a common purpose emerges anyway. I may be a bloody liberal, but I also count myself as a patriot who wants the best for my country and people.