The UK Parliament held a meeting around the disintegration of law based standards in Pakistan and the illicit imprisonment of ex-PM Imran Khan. The event was jointly hosted by Conservative Peer Lord Daniel Hannan and British-Pakistani Labour MP Naz Shah, and 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 settled that parliamentarians will call on the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Foreign Secretary of State David Lammy, of the UK government to take note of the later UN report into previous Prime Minister Imran Khan’s imprisonment, request the prompt discharge from jail of Imran Khan, and the return of popular government to Pakistan.
Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari spoke for almost 10 minutes and described what happened in Pakistan. He said that the February 8 elections were rigged, and there are fears that Imran Khan may be tried by military courts. He said,
“Pakistanis deserve the right to self-determination. The current government of Pakistan is illegitimate and the world needs to be aware of the atrocities committed by the government of Pakistan against freedom and democracy over the past two years. I welcome that leading parliamentarians from the UK are now calling for the return of democratic norms in Pakistan.”
Meher Bano Qureshi also spoke for nearly 17 minutes, describing the difficulties she and PTI candidates faced in the general elections of 8 February. She said,
“The eerie silence from Western democracies has been disappointing. We expected they would stand up for democracy in Pakistan. It is wonderful to have these platitudes about being resilient and brave. I don’t want to be resilient or brave, nor do the people of Pakistan; we all just want to be free. Free to choose what political party we support, free to choose what political party we contest the elections from, and free to our representatives. We want our voices to be heard and our votes to be counted.”
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere 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. 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.”
