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A Pakistani dissident living in the UK was told his parents would be kidnapped if he attended an event in the British Parliament criticising the Islamabad government.
Azhar Mashwani, a senior aide to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was due to speak in the House of Lords on Tuesday during a hearing discussing Pakistan’s ongoing crackdown on opposition figures.
But two days before the meeting, Mashwani received a phone call warning him that his parents would be kidnapped if he attended, part of what Khan’s supporters say is a campaign of intimidation and repression.
Mashwani said: Independent“I received a call and was told that if I went to the meeting I should forget about my siblings and that my parents would also be kidnapped.
“It’s suffocating to be intimidated and not be able to exercise my basic rights even in the UK. I’m also worried I might be attacked.”
Hundreds of Khan’s supporters have been arrested since his August 2023 imprisonment, which the UN says was without legal basis, and the government has threatened to ban his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Mashwani, a key figure in Khan’s government, fled Pakistan last year after his brother was kidnapped by what he claimed were Islamabad security forces and moved to Britain in May 2024.
Sir Daniel Hannan, who chaired the debate, said: Independent“We were disturbed to hear that people involved in our hearings had been warned not to attend and that threats had been made against their families in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is a friend and ally and the rule of law needs to be restored. All friends of democracy should stand up and speak out for this.”
Khan’s arrest sparked riots across the South Asian country, with some of his supporters attacking sites linked to the country’s military.
The riots were the basis for the arrests of thousands of PTI officials and some of the criminal charges against Khan, who was convicted on multiple charges just before the February elections.
This prevented him from standing for election and prevented his party from registering, and although the candidates ran as independents, most media outlets credited their victories to the party.
Khan says all the charges against him are politically motivated and part of a broader effort by the country’s military and political establishment to remove from power his party, which won the most seats in this year’s general election.
Pakistan’s information minister said last week that the government planned to ban Khan’s party based on “proven” charges that it received foreign funding from illegal sources and riots by its supporters last year.
But the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for Khan’s immediate release, saying he has been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law.”
The commission added that Khan’s detention “has no legal basis and appears to be intended to disqualify him from standing for election.”
Shehbaz Sharif’s government denies it has unfairly targeted the opposition and maintains that criminal proceedings against PTI activists are justified in light of attacks on military installations in May last year.
Authorities accused Khan of inciting the violence and described his rioting supporters as “arsonists” who demonstrated “hostility towards the homeland.”
