I appealed to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth to make representations to the government of Pakistan on behalf of @ImranKhanPTI .
I said “The Commonwealth Charter commits its members to democracy, human rights, the rule of law, good
governance and the separation of powers. Those principles have meaning only if the Commonwealth is prepared to defend them when they come under serious pressure within a member state.”
My original letter is in the next post. Here is the response I received.
As a former Minister for the Commonwealth, I recognise this for what it is- code for saying “we are doing absolutely nothing”.
It is, frankly, a disgrace.
@PravinSawhney With our community's deep talent and intellectual strength, South Asians have a unique opportunity to lead by example—showing the world how diversity, peace, and harmony can thrive together.
One World Cup. Two universities. Three cancer hospitals. Thirty years of political struggle and family sacrifice. Four bullets. Three years in jail. No crime. Still standing. One man. One eye. One mission. Zero surrender.
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, what a man. No one can be like you. ❤️
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.
The rights of political prisoners are universal, beyond Geography Government or political affiliation. Be it in India ,Pakistan or anywhere in the world, those incarcerated must be treated with dignity and humanity, with access to proper medical care, family and legal counsel, and due process.
Court orders must be respected and rule of law upheld. Political differences can never justify denying a prisoner his or her fundamental rights.
https://t.co/U2iNA8nMdG
میرے پاکستانیوں! عمران خان کی بہنیں رو رہی ہیں… وہ آج آپ کی طرف دیکھ رہی ہیں۔ 💔
کیا ہم اپنے قائد اور اس کے خاندان کے لیے ایک آواز نہیں بنیں گے؟ 🇵🇰
#ReleaseImranKhan#HumanRightsViolation
اہم ترین اپیل 🚨
تمام کارکنان اور رہنماؤں سے التماس ہے کہ ہسپتال کے باہر جمع ہونے سے گریز کریں۔ بھیڑ اور ہجوم کی وجہ سے عمران خان صاحب کے علاج اور میڈیکل سروسز میں دشواری پیش آسکتی ہے۔
اس وقت عمران خان کی صحت اور ان کا بروقت علاج سب سے پہلی ترجیح ہے۔ تمام ساتھیوں سے تعاون کی درخواست ہے۔
@fawadchaudhry@271086e5fdc74d8 آپ نے یہ پوسٹ اس لئے کی ہے ان کو اور گالیاں پڑیں ! اپنی فہرست کی ترتیب سے دیکھیں یہ تو خان کو دعائیں ہی لکھتے تھے ! ہے ناں ؟
سو ارب ڈالرز کی سرمایہ کاری جھوٹ
بارہ ارب ڈالر ڈالرز کے اسلحے کی فروخت جھوٹ
سعودی عرب کی پندرہ عرب ڈالر کی سرمایہ کاری جھوٹ
ٹرمپ ٹاور کی تعمیر جھوٹ
ایک سال میں معیشت ٹھیک جھوٹ
عالمی پذیرائی جھوٹ