62 members of the US Congress wrote a letter to President Biden for the release of the founder of PTI
WASHINGTON ( WEB NEWS )
Casar Leads 60+ Members of Congress Calling for the Release of Political Prisoners in Pakistan, Including Former Prime Minister Imran Khan
According to the details, sixty-two members of the US Congress wrote a letter to President Biden for the release of PTI founder.
The letter has demanded the release of political prisoners including former Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that the Biden administration should take a guarantee from the Pakistani authorities for the protection of Imran Khan.
In the letter, it is said that American diplomats should meet the founder of PTI in jail and American policy should focus on the human rights situation in Pakistan.
The letter was also signed by Congress Muslim members Alhan Umar and Rashida Tlaib.
It should be remembered that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for the immediate release of the PTI founder, calling it a violation of international law.
The working group said that according to international law, they should be compensated for compensation and other matters and a regular investigation should be conducted as to who is responsible for the illegal detention of the former prime minister.
Today, U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (D-Texas), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), and Summer Lee (D-Penn.), along with 59 other Members of Congress, are calling on President Joe Biden to center human rights in U.S. policy towards Pakistan following the country’s Feb. 2024 National Assembly elections, and on Pakistani authorities to release political prisoners, including former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
This is the first letter from U.S. Members of Congress calling for political prisoners in Pakistan, including Khan, to be released. Casar authored the letter as a follow-up to the nearly unanimous passage of H.Res. 901, which called for the U.S. to support democracy and human rights in Pakistan.
In February 2024, the Pakistani elections saw a historic level of irregularities, including widespread electoral fraud, state-led efforts to disenfranchise voters, the arrest and detention of political leaders, journalists, and activists, and the continued imprisonment of Khan. That month, Casar and 30 other members urged Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to investigate pre- and post-poll rigging in Pakistan’s parliamentary elections. Many of those concerns are reiterated in today’s letter.
“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 members 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.”
“More broadly, developments since the February vote point to a clear turn towards authoritarianism in the country,” the members continued. “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.’ These repressive measures [are] an attack on fundamental human rights… In addition, Pakistani authorities are increasingly engaging in transnational repression… 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.”
The letter is authored by U.S. Representative Greg Casar (TX-35), co-led by U.S. RepresentativesJim McGovern (MA-02) and Summer Lee (PA-12), and signed by U.S. Representatives Don Beyer (VA-08), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Cori Bush (MO-01), André Carson (IN-07), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Dan Kildee (MI-08), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Greg Landsman (OH-01), John Larson (CT-01), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Ted Lieu (CA-36), Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jaime Raskin (MD-08), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Dina Titus (NV-20), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Paul Tonko (NY-20), David Trone (MD-06), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Maxine Waters (CA-43), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12),and Susan Wild (PA-07).
It is supported by First Pakistan Global, Democracy And Human Rights Alliance, Community Alliance for Peace and Justice – Pakistan Democracy Campaign, and The Coalition to Change U.S. Policy on Pakistan (CUSP).