More than 50 US lawmakers have written a letter to President Joe Biden demanding the release of former Pakistani Prime Minister and founding chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
In the letter, they urged Biden to use Washington’s influence over Pakistan to secure the release of the imprisoned former prime minister.
This information was reported in a report by the news agency Reuters on Thursday.
According to the report, more than 60 Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives wrote a letter to President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanding the release of Imran Khan. In this letter, they urged him to use Washington’s influence or power over Pakistan to secure the release of the imprisoned former prime minister.
The lawmakers wrote in the letter, “We are writing today to urge you to use sufficient U.S. power on the Pakistani government to release political prisoners, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and to reduce widespread human rights abuses.”
Reuters says that the letter to Biden was led by U.S. Representative Greg Kaiser. He said that this letter is the first collective call from a large number of members of the U.S. Congress for Imran Khan’s release.
Imran Khan has been in prison since August 2023 and has faced more than 100 cases since he was removed as prime minister in 2022. The cases disqualified Imran Khan from contesting elections in February this year.
However, the former World Cup-winning star cricketer has said that the cases against him are politically motivated.
While in power, Imran Khan was embroiled in a dispute with Pakistan’s powerful military and blamed them for ousting his government. Although the military denies allegations of interference in Pakistani politics.
The US Democratic lawmakers have also expressed concern about allegations of irregularities in Pakistan’s February elections. Although the country’s Election Commission has denied allegations of rigging in the elections.
Washington says that Pakistan’s elections held in February cannot be characterized as free and fair. In addition, Britain, the European Union and the United Nations have also expressed concerns about the elections.
Imran Khan did not contest the elections, but the candidates he supports won the highest number of seats. Even so, their rivals formed a coalition government. A UN human rights group said in July that Imran Khan’s detention violated international law.
It is worth noting that Imran Khan was dramatically arrested from the Islamabad High Court premises on May 9 last year in a corruption case. His arrest caused serious unrest in the nuclear-armed country. The unrest in Pakistan that began with the arrest of Imran Khan by the paramilitary Rangers continued for four days, killing at least 10 protesters and destroying many military and state installations.
In addition, for the first time in Pakistan’s history, protesters broke through barricades and entered the country’s army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and set fire to the house of a corps commander in Lahore. The military later declared May 9 a “black day” and decided to try the protesters under military law.
Although Imran was later released from prison after the intervention of the Supreme Court, his party PTI was subjected to a massive crackdown. Hundreds of PTI workers and senior leaders were imprisoned for their involvement in violence and attacks on military installations.
