Dozens of US lawmakers urge Biden to secure release of Pakistan's Imran Khan

More than 60 Democratic lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to President Joe Biden seeking the release of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan from jail.

The letter claims that the outcome of the last general elections in Pakistan was marred with discrepancies and irregularities.

It specifically refers to the detention of workers from Imran's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party following attacks on military installations on May 9, 2023.

"At a minimum, 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," the letter said.

Congressman Greg Casar who led the campaign said the letter was the first collective call from the Congress for the release of Imran.

The lawmakers further accused Pakistan’s government of gagging freedom of expression through shutting down social media and slowing down the internet to limit the activities of journalists and social media activists.

  

AFP

Supporters and activists of former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party take part in a protest in Lahore on October 5, 2024.

Pakistan's Foreign Office responds

In response to the letter, Pakistan's Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch issued a statement, emphasizing that while Pakistan and the US have long-standing cooperative relations, the intervention was unwelcome.

“Commenting on Pakistan's internal matters violates diplomatic etiquette and that such letters are not consistent with Pak-US relations and mutual respect,” she added.

Baloch also addressed broader concerns about Pakistan's human rights record and rejected the statement by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) regarding the 26th constitutional amendment.

“It reflects a misunderstanding of the ongoing changes in Pakistan and is based on misinformation and inaccurate understanding of the developments in Pakistan."

Baloch criticized the OHCHR for making "unwarranted and misplaced conclusions” based on media reports, social media posts and speculative analysis of manifestly political nature.

She advised the OHCHR to instead focus on actual and grave situation of human rights violations where either the international human rights have been rendered ineffective or draconian laws have been enacted to oppress the illegally occupied peoples.

Calls to probe claims of interference

In June, the House of Representatives voted 368-7 to urge "the full and independent investigation of claims of interference or irregularities" in the February polls held in Pakistan.

Back then, Islamabad strongly objected to the resolution saying it "stems from an incomplete understanding of the political situation and electoral process" in the South Asian nation.

Before being imprisoned in August 2023, Imran had openly blamed the U.S. administration for conspiring against his government. He accused U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donal Lu for meddling in the political affairs of Pakistan and working against him on the behest of Washington DC. Those claims were never substantiated.

Pakistani-American group endorses Trump

The timing of the letter has raised eyebrows as it is closely followed by the endorsement made by American Pakistanis organization PakPac in favor of Republican candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump, who enjoyed cordial relationship with Imran during his tenure.

The endorsement had accused the Biden-Harris government of not fully using its leverage to get Imran out of jail.

Imran has faced dozens of cases since he was removed as prime minister in 2022 after which he launched a protest movement against a coalition of his rivals led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Imran says cases against him, which disqualified him from contesting the February elections, are politically motivated. His party workers continue holding mass protest rallies, which sometimes block entire cities, seeking their leader's release.

Pakistan's government denies being unfair in Imran's treatment and its election commission denies the elections were rigged.