ISLAMABAD: US Congressman Joe Wilson announced on Tuesday he had introduced a bill seeking to sanction Pakistan’s army chief for “undermining democracy” and the “persecution of political opponents,” including jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Wilson announced in February he was nearly finished drafting the Pakistan Democracy Act, which he said would mandate a 30-day determination of sanctions on army chief General Asim Munir and review all generals and government officials and their families for sanctions.
On Tuesday, Wilson, who has consistently called for Khan’s release from prison on social media platform X, said he had introduced the bill.
“I am grateful to introduce the PAKISTAN DEMOCRACY ACT to sanction those undermining democracy in Pakistan!” Wilson wrote on X.
Khan has been in prison since 2023 and faces a slew of charges, from corruption to treason, that he says are politically motivated. He accuses the country’s all-powerful military of being behind his ouster from the PM’s house in 2022 by backing his political opponents in a parliamentary no-trust vote. The army denies the charge and says it does not interfere in political affairs. International rights groups have also raised concerns in recent years about rising political persecution in Pakistan, particularly of Khan and his party’s followers.
Announcing that he had introduced the Pakistan bill, Wilson posted a report by American news website “The Hill,” which reported that the legislation called for sanctions on Munir within 180 days under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Violators of the act can be subjected to denial of entry to the United States and ineligibility for US visas.
The bill accuses the Pakistani army chief of “knowingly engaging in the wrongful persecution and imprisonment of political opponents,” and seeks the identification of key individuals involved in this “persecution,” and imposing similar bans on them, according to The Hill report.
“It gives the president the power to drop the sanctions if ‘military rule has ended in Pakistan and rule of law and civilian-led democracy has been restored’ and ‘all wrongfully detained political detainees have been released from detention,’” the report said.
The US bill has been introduced as tensions remain at a fever pitch between the military and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, especially after May 9, 2023, when Khan’s brief first arrest sparked countrywide protests in which the PTI’s alleged supporters attacked military buildings. The PTI denies allegations it incited its supporters to attack official buildings.
The government also says four troops were killed in PTI-led protests to call for Khan’s release last November. The party denies the accusation, charging instead that its supporters were targeted, killed and injured by security officials.
