https://arab.news/n8dpw
- The Democratic members of Congress urge the US president to make human rights central to Pakistan policy
- They ask the US government to ensure Khan’s safety in prison, send embassy officials to meet him in jail
ISLAMABAD: Over 60 Democratic lawmakers from the US House of Representatives on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden in a letter to secure the release of all political prisoners in Pakistan, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail since his arrest in August last year.
Khan has faced a slew of charges since the downfall of his administration in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022, with authorities trying him on charges ranging from treason to corruption and contracting an illegal marriage.
The ex-premier and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have maintained that all charges against him are fabricated to keep him out of national politics.
US Representatives Greg Casar, Jim McGovern and Summer Lee, along with 59 other Members of Congress, urged President Biden to take stock of the situation in Pakistan, calling for human rights to be the central pillar of American policy toward the country.
“We write today to urge you to use the United States’ substantial leverage with Pakistan’s government to secure the release of political prisoners including former Prime Minister Khan and curtail widespread human rights abuses,” the US lawmakers wrote in the letter.
They also criticized the last general elections in Pakistan held earlier this year in February, saying they had witnessed “a historic level of irregularities” and set the country on a path toward “authoritarianism.”
“The government has intensified its crackdown on social media and the internet as part of a broader effort to suppress political activism, which it deems to be ‘anti-state propaganda’ and ‘digital terrorism,’” said the letter.
“These repressive measures are not only an attack on fundamental human rights, but they also damage Pakistan's growing IT industry and further weaken the economy, with one industry group estimating that it could cost the sector $300 million,” it added.
US Representative Casar, who spearheaded the initiative to write the letter, said it marked the first such collective call from multiple members of the US Congress for the release of Khan, who had had testy relations with Washington as a long standing critic of US foreign policy.
The American lawmakers also asked the Biden administration to secure guarantees from Pakistan for Khan’s safety and and urge US embassy officials to visit him in prison.