24 US Congressmen for withholding recognition of coalition in Pakistan

News Desk :
More than two dozen members of Congress sent a letter to the Biden administration on Wednesday calling for consequences and accountability in Pakistan following what has been widely viewed as a fraudulent election there earlier this month.

The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, calls on the U.S. government to withhold recognition of the new Pakistani government barring a “thorough, transparent, and credible” review of the circumstances of the February 8 election.

The letter also demands accountability for political prisoners and calls for the U.S. to cease military and other cooperation with Pakistan unless authorities there comply with human rights law and respect democratic outcomes, reports agency.

Sent to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the letter was signed by 31 members of Congress. The time to collect signatures on the letter was short, Casar said, as a coalition of Pakistani political parties rushed to form a government with military backing following the election.

Though a clear majority of Pakistanis voted in favor of candidates aligned with former Prime Minister Imran Khan, authorities manipulated the results, allowing Khan’s opponents to form a coalition.

Pakistan has been in a state of political paralysis since the vote, with supporters of Khan and media organizations around the world condemning the election as fraudulent. In the months preceding the election, Pakistan’s powerful military establishment engaged in a fierce crackdown on Khan and his supporters that has included widespread arrests, killings, and allegations of torture in military custody. The Pakistani media, meanwhile, has been largely muzzled over the past year, with critical reporting on the army and government made nearly impossible.

The congressional letter could pressure the Biden administration to stall a phone call or meeting with the new Pakistani government.
“Pakistan is a longstanding ally of the U.S. and we should hold our allies to an important standard of democracy and free speech.

We can’t allow corporate or military interests to override the goal of advocating for democracy around the world,” Casar told The Intercept.

“Pakistan is a country of over 200 million people, and this is a critical moment for members of Congress and the Biden administration to stand by democracy. I’m hopeful that through this letter, and the impact of members of Congress standing up for democracy, we can have a real impact before the election is certified.”

Pakistan’s political crisis began when Khan was removed by a vote of no-confidence arranged by the powerful Pakistani military in 2022. Khan is currently in jail on a raft of charges of corruption and mishandling state secrets viewed by most observers as highly politicized.

Despite his imprisonment and the barring of his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, supporters of the PTI who ran as independents in the recent vote did exceptionally well. This success came despite blatant rigging both before and after the polls opened, as well as intimidation and violence against PTI supporters and candidates.

The State Department has remained mostly silent about recent reports of abuses in Pakistan by the military-backed regime, as well as the continued detention of Khan and many of his supporters.

Yet it issued a rare condemnation immediately following the election, saying that it “included undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly,” and calling for an investigation into claims of election interference or fraud.

Last year, The Intercept reported on the contents of a leaked Pakistani intelligence cable showing that U.S. officials had put pressure on their Pakistani counterparts to remove Khan from office following disagreements over what they called his “aggressively neutral” stance on the Russian conflict in Ukraine.

The Intercept later reported that U.S. and Pakistani military officials engaged in cooperation to provide Pakistani ordinances to the Ukrainian military in exchange for support obtaining an IMF loan.

We write to express our concerns about pre- and post-poll rigging in Pakistan’s recent parliamentary elections.

We appreciate the steps your administration has already taken to draw attention to interference in these elections. Your administration has rightly stood behind the “credible international and local election observers” who documented “undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly,” and we join you in “condemn[ing] electoral violence, restrictions on the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including attacks on media workers, and restrictions on access to the Internet and telecommunication services.”