US lawmakers urge Secretary Marco Rubio to act on ‘human rights crisis’ in Pakistan

Over 44 US lawmakers have reportedly sent a letter to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising alarm on the human rights violations in the military-backed Shehbaz Sharif government in Pakistan. 

“Escalating campaign of transnational repression” 

• Forty-four US lawmakers have pleaded with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take strict action over the human rights violations in Pakistan. The members of the United States Congress, led by the Democratic Congresswoman Pramil Jayapal and Congressman Greg Casar, demanded prompt action over the senior Pakistani officials. 

Over 40 US lawmakers have sent a strong bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding sanctions against Pakistan's top military leader, General Asim Munir, and other officials for running a global crackdown targeting journalists, political opponents, and even US… pic.twitter.com/tTseJv5Clw

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• The letter insisted on banning visas and freezing the assets of Pakistani officials, for an alleged “Escalating campaign of transnational repression”, election irregularities, and detention of its leaders who raise their voice against these unspoken issues in the country. 
• 'In recent years, US citizens and residents who have spoken out against authoritarian abuses in Pakistan have faced threats, intimidation, and harassment--often extending to their families in Pakistan. These tactics include arbitrary detentions, coercion, and retaliatory violence, targeting diaspora individuals and their relatives,' The letter said. 
• The letter has also revealed that the country is experiencing a crisis within, as the ruling government has been curbing the right to speech by constantly detaining leaders from the opposition party, journalists are forced to flee the country, people living under constant fear and their privacy is being invaded. 
• 'This authoritarian system in Pakistan is sustained through relentless repression. Opposition leaders are held without charge, denied fair trial, and kept in indefinite pretrial detention. Independent journalists are harassed, abducted, or forced into exile. Ordinary citizens are arrested for social media posts, while women, religious minorities, and marginalised ethnic groups--particularly in Balochistan--face disproportionate violence and surveillance.'

Recent incident in Pakistan 

• Pakistan, a country created on the basis of religion and radical Islam, has always been a place of constant social unrest and politically unstable, even though Pakistan claims to be a democratic country, the incidents have time and again proved how it is ruled by the military. Asim Munir, the chief of the army general, has been active in the affairs of the state more than he should be.
• There was huge turmoil in the country after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s family lost contact with the jailed leader, and the Sharif-Munir government denied access to the cell of Imran Khan. After his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and family members demanded to meet the leader, international media backed it. 
• After the Sharif-Munir government received backlash from the citizens and beyond, they allowed his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan, to meet the jailed leader in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Following the 35-minute meeting, his sister revealed he is healthy but kept in solitary confinement and mentally tortured by Asim Munir.

Read more from the author: Imran Khan’s sister meets the jailed leader, makes shocking claims on Asim Munir