Congressman Brad Sherman, PTI, and Human Rights in Pakistan 
By Ras H. Siddiqui

US Congressman Brad Sherman (D-San Fernando Valley, California) addressed a small group of Pakistani Americans and their friends at a fundraiser held in Sacramento, California on Tuesday April 4, 2023.

The senior Congressman has been a member of the US House of Representatives since 1997. He has an impressive resume and is currently a member of some very important committees including Finance, Foreign Relations, and Science, Space, and Technology. He is currently the second-ranked Democrat in the all-important House Foreign Affairs Committee with a subcommittee focus on the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Pakistan and India. Congressman Sherman is already quite well-known within South Asian circles in southern California but is relatively new to our community in Sacramento. His presence here was made possible thanks to a few local sponsors and Dr Asif Mahmood.

This Iftar (breaking of the fast) event was attended by locally active Pakistani community members, but the most vocal attendees and organizers were local officials and supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The PTI members took this opportunity to highlight the current status of democracy, human rights, and elections in Pakistan, and requested Congressman Sherman to support justice in our country of origin.

The program emcee was Ushna-Asif-Sattar who started the event by inviting a young man to begin the proceedings with a Qur’an recitation.

The first speaker was Javaid Akhtar who, amongst the many other hats he wears, is an official part of PTI and a supporter of its leader, Imran Khan. Javaid is a strong Urdu and Punjabi language orator but he spoke in English on this occasion and started by welcoming Congressman Sherman and Dr Asif Mahmood. He held back no punches and said that we have rights in this country (America) but unfortunately not in our motherland (Pakistan). He lamented the fact that the most important leader in the country (Imran Khan) has had his life threatened. He requested all to raise their voice against the law of the jungle there.

Ushna-Asif-Sattar next gave a detailed presentation about the current state of eroding democracy in Pakistan. She posed the question: what is the purpose of this event? And she answered that we are here to create a space and awareness of Pakistan’s financial and constitutional crisis. She spoke of the curtailment of freedom of speech, freedom of the press by the current government there in violation of democratic rights. She also spoke of journalists being harassed and some like Arshad Sharif even losing their lives.

Dr Asif Mahmood spoke next. He is no stranger to our Sacramento community and mentioned how appreciative he was of the support that he had received from many people in this region. Amongst his many attributes is the fact that he recently (in 2022) ran for the US Congress seat  from California’s 40 th District and had the strongest showing of any candidate of Pakistani origin that this writer has ever seen. Dr Mahmood, who is a Democrat, received over 77,000 votes in a predominantly Republican district in a race which his opponent Young Kim received just under 110,000 votes to win. At this event Dr Mahmood said that he was not a supporter of any one political party in Pakistan, but he is all for the betterment of the lives of the people there. He relayed his concerns on the risks to the life of PTI’s leader Imran Khan and called him a phenomenon. He also lamented the 143 court cases (so far) recently initiated against Khan. Mahmood  requested the current government in Pakistan to listen to the concerns of the Diaspora.

The final keynote speech was by Congressman Brad Sherman who was introduced by Dr Mahmood. Sherman who has a Jewish background, started his speech with a “Ramadan Mubarak” and proceeded to share his concern for human rights for various groups in Asia and Africa. Since this was a fundraiser for him, he thanked the individuals who contributed to his campaign. He also shared the journey that landed him in the US Congress and how he happened to become the only Certified Public Accountant (CPA) on the Democratic side of the US Congress.

The Congressman also shared some advice on how to organize politically in America. He added that Members of Congress actually like to hear from their constituents. And on getting support from their Representatives, he highly recommended that they get it in writing! He added that Pakistani Americans live in every congressional district, and one only needs to approach them to get them involved. He also said that when approaching your representative, you must make clear what you want them to do. He suggested that a small group of about 8 people should visit their elected officials and get a signed letter generated.

On the internal situation in Pakistan, he said that it is not for the United States to decide. But he added that we need to stay on the principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law there. The Congressman also answered a few questions from the attendees before the Azan (call to prayers) and the breaking of the fast occurred. The final comments were presented by host, Asif Sattar.

To conclude, one has to be continually concerned about human rights in Pakistan and the PTI supporters have been doing their part recently to get this issue before elected officials here in America. And as one of the non-PTI participants at this fundraiser, I found it interesting that this event was held on April 4 th which often takes us older Pakistanis back to this tragic date in 1979. Today, Imran Khan has taken on some powerful forces in Pakistan and the risks are indeed similarly high. Let us hope and pray for good sense to prevail this time, and that the Pakistani people are allowed to decide their future through free and fair elections.