Prime Minister @andyburnham and Foreign Secretary @Ed_Miliband : how much longer will Britain remain silent?
For three years the father of my two sons, and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has been brutally penalised by his political opponents, in a personal vendetta by Army Chief, Asim Munir, which according to the UN, amounts to torture and which is now taking a potentially fatal toll on his physical and mental health.
He has endured 3 years of solitary confinement. For nearly ten months now his family has been denied contact with him. He has been deprived of the most basic human contact, denied access to books, lawyers and doctors.
The international human-rights standards are unequivocal. Under the UN’s Nelson Mandela Rules, solitary confinement lasting more than 15 consecutive days is prohibited and amounts to torture.
He has endured this treatment not for 15 days, but for three years.
Pakistan’s own Supreme Court has now intervened: ordering comprehensive medical treatment, access to his personal doctor, regular family visits and twice-weekly calls with his sons.
Yet those orders are being defied.
This is no longer simply a Pakistani political matter. It is a human-rights emergency.
He has deep and lifelong ties to Britain. He studied at Oxford University, captained Oxford University cricket and spent years playing county cricket in England. His relationship with this country stretches back more than half a century. His charitable activities were internationally recognised, and include building the only free cancer hospital in Pakistan as well as a university.
His sons, my two boys, Sulaiman and Kasim, are British citizens. They have been forced to watch their father’s health decline from thousands of miles away, prevented from visiting him, denied visas, publicly threatened by government officials with arrest themselves, and even denied court-mandated regular phone calls.
I have repeatedly appealed to the UK government to intervene. Purported attempts at back channelling have evidently failed. The previous Foreign Secretary @DavidLammy informed me in writing that Britain would not intervene if my sons, British citizens, are arrested when they travel to Pakistan to visit their father.
@FCDOGovUK: Britain must now speak out publicly and unequivocally. Demand that Pakistan comply with its own Supreme Court; restore Imran Khan’s medical access, his right to see his family, end his prolonged isolation and uphold his fundamental human rights.
Pakistan is a Commonwealth country. Britain has a long and proud tradition of standing against arbitrary detention, inhumane treatment and the denial of fundamental rights. Those principles mean very little if we invoke them only selectively and neglect them when inconvenient.
This an appeal to the new Burnham government to please now do the right thing.
Via @MehlaqaCAPJ
“🚨BREAKING: 40+ leading global scholars, public intellectuals, and human rights advocates have issued an urgent international letter demanding immediate medical access for former Prime Minister Imran Khan @ImranKhanPTI and an end to his arbitrary detention.
The letter warns of severe ocular damage following prolonged medical neglect in custody.
Signatories include: Dr. Naledi Pandor, @JohnLEsposito D. Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis, Noura Erakat @4noura, Dr. Omid Safi @ostadjaan, Dr. Yasir Qadhi @YasirQadhi, Roger Waters @rogerwaters, Dr. Vijay Prashad @vijayprashad, Dr. Nader Hashemi @naderalihashemi, Mr. Craig Mokhiber @CraigMokhiber, Mr. Motasem Dalloul @AbujomaaGaza, Katie Halper @kthalps, Dr. Nidal Jboor, Medea Benjamin @medeabenjamin, Dr. Ashok Swain @ashoswai, @TurgayEvren1, Dr. Richard Falk, Dr. Ilan Pappe @pappe54, @SanaSaeed, Dr. @AssalRad, Dr. Tamara Sonn, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Dr. Junaid Ahmad @Academicatarms, State Senator @SaudAnwarCT, and many others from international civil society.
Read and share the full letter below, led by the Community Alliance for Peace and Justice @Alliance4PJ, the Coalition to Change U.S. Policy on Pakistan (CUSP) @ChangePakPolicy, and Center for the Study of Islam and Decolonization.”
"Imran Khan is not ready for any deal. Multiple attempts by the government to initiate dialogue or reach a settlement have not succeeded", Rana Sanaullah, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister
Pakistan: Burnt cars and motorcycles, smoke rising from the main container. A scene of destruction, Images from the operation against Tehreek-e-Labbaik workers.
مودی یاد رکھو، اگر تم نے کوئی حماقت کی تو اینٹ کا جواب پتھر سے دیا جائے گا، یہ قوم آخری سانس تک تمہارا مقابلہ کرے گی!
وزیراعظم پاکستان، عمران خان
#ImranKhanForPakistan
یہودی کارڈ وڑ گیا 🚨
خواجہ آصف نے امریکہ میں انٹرویو دیتے ہوئے کہا تھا، ہم آزاد سوچ کے مالک ہیں جبکہ عمران خان اسلام پسند ہے اس لئے مذہب سے لگاؤ رکھنے والوں کا رحجان پی ٹی آئی کی طرف ہوتا ہے
رچرڈ گرنیل کے ساتھ ملاقات کرنے والے پاک پیک کے وفد کی سربراہ ڈاکٹر عظمیٰ رحمان کا کہنا ہے کہ ہم نےگرنیل سے وہی بات کی جو ہماری تنظیم کا مقصد ہے ہم پاکستان میں شہری آزادیوں کا تحفظ چاہتے ہیں ہم نے سیلاب متاثرین کی بھی مدد کی تھی ہم پاکستان پر کسی امریکی پابندی کی حمایت نہیں کرتے