Send this email to your MP,Senator or Representative:
I am writing to call for your urgent attention to Pakistan's deteriorating Human Rights situation and to seek your support in highlighting this critical matter with the State Department/Foreign office , in the appropriate Congressional/Parliamentary Committees, and diplomats and officials.
You may have seen coverage on international media of state brutality inflicted on former Prime Minister Imran Khan's supporters, who were gathered around his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Large contingents of riot police descended upon the area on March 14th and launched a vicious attack, using water cannons laced with chemicals and hundreds of teargas shells. The assault lasted nearly 24 hours, and horrific violence against civilians was witnessed. The pretext was to disperse the crowd surrounding Mr Khan’s home to arrest him.
Imran Khan faces over 90 criminal cases on trumped-up charges, including terrorism, blasphemy, sedition, and murder. All cases have been filed under controversial and colonial laws, are politically motivated, and are the worst form of victimization of political opposition.
Pakistan regime claims Imran Khan is avoiding arrest. Still, the reality is that the warrant for his arrest was issued to ensure his presence at a court hearing on March 18th in Islamabad, which was four days after the assault began. Mr Khan had protective bail and provided a written undertaking to be present in court on the appointed date. His lawyers challenged the warrant in the Islamabad High Court for these reasons.
In addition, Mr Khan has been denied security in previous court appearances. There are serious and credible threats to his life. On November 3rd, an attempt was made to assassinate him. Multiple shooters fired a hail of bullets at the political leadership of PTI, including Imran Khan, who was on top of a mobile stage. At the same time, on a peaceful protest march to the capital city, Islamabad. Imran Khan survived the attack but sustained four bullet wounds to his legs.
On March 8th, the body of an autistic young man was dumped outside Services Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. The autopsy report shows that he died of horrific injuries, including a fractured skull, intracranial bleeding, lacerated liver and spleen, damage to his testicles, and other injuries caused by blunt force trauma. Ali Bilal was on his way with thousands of supporters to an election campaign rally called by Imran Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Participants of the rally were subjected to vicious police brutality. They were baton charged and tear gassed, their vehicles deliberately damaged by police, and many were arrested. Bilal was one of them.
Many independent journalists, analysts, and medical professionals believe Bilal was tortured while in custody and died. His father tried to register a case against police and government officials, but local authorities did not cooperate.
This is not the first case of custodial torture, or even murder, in Pakistan under the installed regime.
Imran Khan’s chief of staff, Dr Shahbaz Gill, a US resident and a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was brutally tortured while in police custody.
A 74-year-old Senator, Azam Swati, was arrested under a controversial cybercrime law for posting a tweet critical of Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief. He was taken to an undisclosed location, stripped naked, and brutally tortured, with the entire ordeal recorded on video. A secretly recorded video of his intimate moments with his wife while they stayed in a government guest house in Quetta some years ago was anonymously sent to his daughter, threatening the video would be leaked if Senator Swati continued to raise his voice against the regime.
Arshad Sharif, an investigative journalist critical of Pakistan’s illegitimate government, was murdered in Kenya. Mr Sharif had left Pakistan after being threatened with dire consequences if he refused to tone down his criticism of the installed regime and their backers and stop his investigation.
As a citizen of the UK with family/friends residing in Pakistan, who believes in freedom and civil liberties, I am writing to draw your attention to these atrocities. The Pakistani-British community is highly concerned about democracy and increasing evidence of an authoritarian, military-backed government oppressing citizens and denying them the right to vote by delaying constitutionally mandated elections.
I urge you, as someone who believes in fundamental human rights, to press upon the Prime Minister to take immediate action by calling on the installed regime to:
>Cease unlawful acts used to remove his political opponents
>Stop political victimization
>Immediately stop human rights violations on free press and peaceful protesters.
>Hold fair and transparent elections per Pakistan’s Constitution and allow the election process to occur peacefully.
I am writing to call for your urgent attention to Pakistan's deteriorating Human Rights situation and to seek your support in highlighting this critical matter with the State Department/Foreign office , in the appropriate Congressional/Parliamentary Committees, and diplomats and officials.
You may have seen coverage on international media of state brutality inflicted on former Prime Minister Imran Khan's supporters, who were gathered around his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Large contingents of riot police descended upon the area on March 14th and launched a vicious attack, using water cannons laced with chemicals and hundreds of teargas shells. The assault lasted nearly 24 hours, and horrific violence against civilians was witnessed. The pretext was to disperse the crowd surrounding Mr Khan’s home to arrest him.
Imran Khan faces over 90 criminal cases on trumped-up charges, including terrorism, blasphemy, sedition, and murder. All cases have been filed under controversial and colonial laws, are politically motivated, and are the worst form of victimization of political opposition.
Pakistan regime claims Imran Khan is avoiding arrest. Still, the reality is that the warrant for his arrest was issued to ensure his presence at a court hearing on March 18th in Islamabad, which was four days after the assault began. Mr Khan had protective bail and provided a written undertaking to be present in court on the appointed date. His lawyers challenged the warrant in the Islamabad High Court for these reasons.
In addition, Mr Khan has been denied security in previous court appearances. There are serious and credible threats to his life. On November 3rd, an attempt was made to assassinate him. Multiple shooters fired a hail of bullets at the political leadership of PTI, including Imran Khan, who was on top of a mobile stage. At the same time, on a peaceful protest march to the capital city, Islamabad. Imran Khan survived the attack but sustained four bullet wounds to his legs.
On March 8th, the body of an autistic young man was dumped outside Services Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. The autopsy report shows that he died of horrific injuries, including a fractured skull, intracranial bleeding, lacerated liver and spleen, damage to his testicles, and other injuries caused by blunt force trauma. Ali Bilal was on his way with thousands of supporters to an election campaign rally called by Imran Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Participants of the rally were subjected to vicious police brutality. They were baton charged and tear gassed, their vehicles deliberately damaged by police, and many were arrested. Bilal was one of them.
Many independent journalists, analysts, and medical professionals believe Bilal was tortured while in custody and died. His father tried to register a case against police and government officials, but local authorities did not cooperate.
This is not the first case of custodial torture, or even murder, in Pakistan under the installed regime.
Imran Khan’s chief of staff, Dr Shahbaz Gill, a US resident and a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was brutally tortured while in police custody.
A 74-year-old Senator, Azam Swati, was arrested under a controversial cybercrime law for posting a tweet critical of Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief. He was taken to an undisclosed location, stripped naked, and brutally tortured, with the entire ordeal recorded on video. A secretly recorded video of his intimate moments with his wife while they stayed in a government guest house in Quetta some years ago was anonymously sent to his daughter, threatening the video would be leaked if Senator Swati continued to raise his voice against the regime.
Arshad Sharif, an investigative journalist critical of Pakistan’s illegitimate government, was murdered in Kenya. Mr Sharif had left Pakistan after being threatened with dire consequences if he refused to tone down his criticism of the installed regime and their backers and stop his investigation.
As a citizen of the UK with family/friends residing in Pakistan, who believes in freedom and civil liberties, I am writing to draw your attention to these atrocities. The Pakistani-British community is highly concerned about democracy and increasing evidence of an authoritarian, military-backed government oppressing citizens and denying them the right to vote by delaying constitutionally mandated elections.
I urge you, as someone who believes in fundamental human rights, to press upon the Prime Minister to take immediate action by calling on the installed regime to:
>Cease unlawful acts used to remove his political opponents
>Stop political victimization
>Immediately stop human rights violations on free press and peaceful protesters.
>Hold fair and transparent elections per Pakistan’s Constitution and allow the election process to occur peacefully.
