News

January 17, 2025


British MPs Call for Immediate Release of Imran Khan and Others

By Murtaza Ali Shah

London: A large group of British parliamentarians called for the immediate release of former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan as well as other political prisoners facing charges on several counts, including the May 9 and November 26 violence and chaos caused in the country at an event at the Portcullis House on Thursday. 

The event was organized by a newly formed Friends of Democratic Pakistan-UK (FODP), set up by Safina Faisal, who said she took the initiative to highlight the issues, including the "killing of peaceful protestors, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests targeting political workers, women, and journalists. Military trials of civilians and the erosion of democracy demand urgent attention".

The event was chaired by James Frith MP (Labor Party) and addressed by former minister in the Khan cabinet Zulfi Bukhari, former accountability chief Shehzad Akbar, Lord Daniel Hannan and some activists who alleged violations of their rights for standing up for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The MPs who attended the event included Andrew Pakes (Labor), Naz Shah (Labor), Jeremy Corbyn (Independent), Paul Waugh (Labor), James Asser (Labor), Kate Deardon (Labor), Jas Athwal (Labor), Gurinder Josan (Labor), Margaret Mullaine (Labor), Warinder Juss (Labor), Adnan Hussain (Independent), Preet Kaur (Labor), Ayoub Khan (Independent) and Iqbal Mohamed (Independent).

Azhar Mashwani and Khan’s nephew Sher Shah also attended the event; however, they didn’t address the gathering.

Friends of Democratic Pakistan’s Faisal called for the accountability of the establishment figures from different institutions over alleged violations of international law.

PTI founder's former adviser and cabinet minister Bukhari claimed that hundreds died during a PTI protest in Islamabad in November.

He said that a UN Working Group report has categorically said that Khan's detention is illegal and he has been facing inhumane conditions in prison.

"Since April 2022, torture has been used as a weapon to break down our party. Hundreds of our workers, lawmakers and leaders are in jail and have been tortured," he said.

"Azam Swati and Shehbaz Gill are two examples. They were tortured in daylight because they were close to Khan and stood by him. Intimate videos have been used against our politicians to blackmail them and break them down," Bukhari added.

Bukhari claimed that Khan remains mostly in solitary confinement and rarely gets the chance to meet his lawyers and family. “His wife was put in prison. She may not have been given poison but was given inadequate food to create massive health issues for her. Things were made so difficult for her at home that she went to the court to petition to be jailed with Imran Khan. His house was completely sealed down to torture her".

Akbar in his address stated that Pakistan's democracy has "always been compromised".

"Transnational repression should concern the UK MPs as this concerns British citizens. I am a victim of that repression. After I moved to the UK, my brother was kidnapped and released only after intervention by my UK MP. Many overseas Pakistanis saw their family members abducted," he said.

"This is about the erosion and eradication of a whole democratic system. Rigging was done both before and after to steal the people’s mandate. The purpose was to bring new amendments to change the nature and structure of the judiciary. Judges have been kidnapped and blackmailed," he said.

"This was all done to get the system to surrender to the decision-makers. Military courts were not possible without the 26th Amendment and what’s happening now is for all to see. The power is in the hands of the executive, and free judiciary is over in today’s Pakistan," the former minister concluded.

Lord Hannan said Khan's PTI won the elections of 2023 “massively” but every effort was made to thwart the party from forming government in the center.

"Pakistanis have been effectively living under martial law. The killings in Islamabad have been at a different scale. You cannot be indifferent to the agony of democracy in a friendly country," Hannan said.

He said the sanctions don’t work against the states but can work if they are targeted and against the specific, named individuals involved in human rights violations… - The News

Courtesy The News

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