In a new letter to United States President Joe Biden, as many as 46 US Congressmen have voiced concerns about the detention of former prime minister Imran Khan and the human rights situation in Pakistan.
A similar letter was written last month by several US Congressmen to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, seeking a formal update on the imprisonment of the PTI founder.
Khan is being held at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail and is prohibited from meeting with journalists. The former prime minister has claimed that he was not being given “proper facilities” and was being kept in a death cell.
The recent letter accused the Pakistani government of “human rights abuses and the decline of democratic principles,” calling for action from the US administration.
Lawmakers highlighted allegations of electoral fraud and irregularities in the February general elections, claiming that government institutions were targeting Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. They also expressed frustration over the suppression of reports from Commonwealth observers and the European Union that have not been made public.
Furthermore, the Congress members criticised Pakistani authorities for “imposing restrictions on public freedoms,” particularly freedom of expression, noting widespread arrests, unlawful detentions, and limitations on social media.
They also raised the issue of the unlawful detention of Khan, noting that he “remains Pakistan’s most popular political figure.” It also highlighted that other senior PTI leaders, such as Yasmin Rashid and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, have been imprisoned for over a year.
“Thus, from the outset, that prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose,” it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.
The lawmakers urged a review of US embassy policies in Islamabad, expressing disappointment that the concerns of the Pakistani-American community “were not being reflected” in the embassy’s approach.
They criticised the embassy’s “quick, positive comments” regarding the new government in Pakistan, calling for a more nuanced stance.
The letter demanded action to halt “human rights abuses” in Pakistan, including the swift release of political prisoners like the former prime minister. Congressmen insisted that the new US ambassador to Pakistan prioritise the promotion of human rights and democratic values.
But the government and the Foreign Office have rejected such demands, saying that it was the country’s internal matter.
“We reject these baseless insinuations and advise the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to concentrate on actual and severe human rights violations, particularly where international human rights laws have been rendered ineffective or where draconian laws have been enacted to oppress occupied peoples,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly media briefing on October 24.
In reaction to the US lawmakers’ letter, she said comments on Pakistan’s domestic affairs “violate inter-state conduct and diplomatic norms.”
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Defence Minister Khawaja Asif reacted strongly when he was asked about such demands.
“Do not attach any credibility to the resolutions or whatever is happening in the House of Representatives or Senate. They are partners in crime with Israel and I don’t give credibility to the utterances of those who are with Israel. I don’t think it is necessary,” he said while appearing on Aaj News programme News Insight with Amir Zia on October 24.
He went on to add that America’s “politics is dirtier than the politics” in Pakistan.
