Over 60 members of the United States House of Representatives this week wrote to President Joe Biden, urging him to use Washington’s “substantial leverage” with Islamabad for the release of political prisoners, including incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder was arrested in August 2023 following his conviction in the Toshakhana criminal case. He has since been implicated in various other cases, including another Toshakhana case, cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots, and the £190 million settlement case. The PTI maintains all the cases are baseless and politically motivated.
Representatives Greg Casar; Jim McGovern; and Summer Lee authored the letter, which was cosigned by 59 others. In an accompanying press release, they urged Biden to “center human rights in U.S. policy towards Pakistan” after the Feb. 8 general elections. The letter, they said, was a follow-up to the passage of House Resolution 901, which passed 368-7 and called for the U.S. to support democracy and human rights in Pakistan.
In the letter, the lawmakers reiterated concerns with the alleged irregularities during the Feb. 8 general elections, accusing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the judiciary of being “functionally partisan accessories” of the military. In this regard, they cited a letter penned by six judges of the Islamabad High Court citing alleged interference by the ISI in securing desired rulings in “political consequential” cases.
“We echo the calls for Khan’s immediate release and for an end to widespread arbitrary detention of party members and activists in Pakistan,” the lawmakers wrote. “We ask your administration to urgently secure the guarantees from the Pakistani government for Khan’s safety and well-being and urge U.S. embassy officials to visit him in prison,” they added.
The letter also expresses concern over Pakistan’s “turn towards authoritarianism” after the general elections. “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’,” they said, branding such measures an attack on fundamental rights and damaging to the country’s I.T. industry. The letter also accused Pakistani authorities of “increasingly engaging in transnational repression,” maintaining the current system was akin to a “military rule with civilian façade.”
The letter laid out a series of questions to improve congressional oversight of U.S. policy toward Pakistan, including changes to it in response to “undemocratic actions and human rights abuses” of the Pakistani government; and what indicators were used to guide changes in the U.S. relationship with Pakistan diplomatically and economically.
The letter further asked what “leverage” the U.S. had used to “secure the freedom of political prisoners” in Pakistan and what policy decisions were being modified to deter the deterioration of the democratic and human rights situation in Pakistan. “What accounts for the delay in announcing visa bans and/or asset freezes for Pakistani elites engaged in human rights abuses, and what is the timeline for these decisions?” it questioned. It also inquired into U.S. ties with military and intelligence officials in Pakistan “credibly” accused of violating democratic principles and human rights, including Army chief Gen. Asim Munir and what mechanisms were in place to condition future cooperation on measurable improvements in human rights practices.
“We join our Pakistani American constituents, as well as community leaders and elected officials throughout our country and around the world, in standing in solidarity with the people of Pakistan and their struggle to rebuild a genuinely representative democracy,” it concluded.