There is little choice left for the people of Pakistan.
Either remain silent while their chosen leader is imprisoned. Whilst his family is detained, his party is suppressed and justice is denied - or come out peacefully and exercise their fundamental right to protest.
You can arrest families and threaten people with violence. But you cannot imprison 250 million Pakistanis or crush the will of a generation.
No regime is more powerful than its people. The world must watch as the people of Pakistan come together to demonstrate their plea for justice, even in the face of threats of violence.
Inshallah, Pakistan’s future will be decided by its people, not by criminals who rule through fear.
"Imran Khan is a great cricketer and a former Prime Minister. We may not understand all the laws or technicalities, but strictly on humanitarian grounds, we demand his basic rights and proper medical care. We are asking for nothing more than that." — Kapil Dev
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.
PAKPAC condemns the life imprisonment sentences to seven journalists, political analysts, and YouTubers, including US residents Dr. Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj), Wajahat Saeed Khan (@WajSKhan), and Shaheen Sehbai (@SSEHBAI1).
The life sentences by a Pakistani court are politically motivated to silence the Pakistan government’s critics and independent journalists. #TransnationalRepression
Freedom of speech and press are fundamental foundations of democracy and human rights. Efforts to undermine democracy and freedom of speech must not be tolerated. CC: @HouseForeignGOP@HouseForeign@TLHumanRights
We remain firm in our support of the people of Pakistan in pursuit of their civil liberties of free speech, press, assembly, and due process. #JournalismIsNotCrime
Please Urge Your Congress Representative to co-sponsor #HR5271, Pakistan Freedom and Accountability Act by clicking ➡️ https://t.co/nOfm45jUeG
Help our advocacy efforts in your state by joining PAKPAC at https://t.co/ah5bAyp965 #USPakistanRelations #USForeignPolicy #PakistaniAmerican
@Inking_Insights Shame on you!!!! Look at your self auntie…they are decent and well educated ladies Masha’Allah, you’re not even like their shoes…laanti ghumandi aurat Allah tum logon ko ibrat ka nishan bnaey Ameen sumameen
@MoeedNj I can’t believe…I just received a call and she wanted me to come to their office right now. Then my husband told me these are scam calls and they’ve issued a warning about it. Thank you Dr moeed.