ISLAMABAD: A number of British parliamentarians on Tuesday called for the release of former Pakistan premier Imran Khan, who has been in jail since August last year, Khan’s party said.
The UK parliament held a hearing on Tuesday that saw over a dozen parliamentarians listen to members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party speaking about his incarceration, deteriorating law and order as well as growing censorship in Pakistan.
The event, jointly hosted by Conservative Peer Lord Daniel Hannan and British-Pakistani Labour MP Naz Shah, was attended by former Tory home secretary Priti Patel, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Labour MP Naushaba Khan, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon and others.
The hearing resolved that the parliamentarians will call on British PM Keir Starmer and State Secretary David Lammy for the UK government to take note of a recent United Nations report into Khan’s incarceration and demand his release from prison, Khan’s PTI party said.
“As friends of Pakistan and friends of Pakistani democracy, we want to see that country prosper. We want to see the UN’s recommendations implemented, including an end to the detention of Imran Khan and a timetable for free and inclusive elections,” the PTI quoted Lord Hannan as saying.
“We will continue to press for democracy on a cross-party basis, and in both parliamentary chambers. And we will link up with parliamentarians in other friendly countries to make the case internationally.”
Khan has been in jail since August last year, even though all four convictions handed down to him ahead of a parliamentary election in February have either been suspended or overturned.
After being acquitted on the last of those four convictions, authorities rearrested Khan and his wife in an old corruption case on charges of selling state gifts unlawfully. He also faces an accusation of inciting his supporters to attack military installations in May last year. Khan denies all the accusations.
A UN panel of experts this month found that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office.”
During the event, Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a key Khan aide, and PTI member Meher Bano Qureshi apprised the UK parliamentarians of their concerns with regard to the situation in Pakistan.
“As somebody with a large Pakistani constituency and as an MP of Pakistani heritage, I want to see Pakistan succeed, particularly democracy in Pakistan, as well as freedom of the press, and justice,” MP Shah was quoted as saying.
“The UN report into the incarceration of Imran Khan should be of great concern to all of us. We cannot shy away from it and we must continue to work across parliament to ensure progress is made for Pakistan.”
The development followed fresh arrests of PTI members, including Information Secretary Raoof Hasan and senior media manager Ahmed Waqas Janjua.
Last week, Pakistan’s government announced it would move to ban the PTI for involvement in anti-government and anti-military riots last year, for leaking state secrets and for receiving illegal foreign funding. Khan and the PTI say all charges against them are motivated to keep them out of politics and dent their popularity.
Khan’s PTI party secured the largest number of seats in parliament in the February general election despite what it says is a military-backed crackdown that aims to keep him out of power. It also won nearly two dozen extra parliament seats after a court ruling last week.
Khan blames his 2022 ouster in a no-confidence vote on Pakistan’s powerful army generals after he fell out with them, a charge the army denies.