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A Pakistani dissident living in the UK was told his parents would be abducted if he attended an event at the British parliament, critical of Islamabad’s government.
Azhar Mashwani, a senior aide to former prime minister Imran Khan, was set to speak at the House of Lords on Tuesday at a hearing discussing the ongoing crackdown of Pakistan’s opposition.
But two days before the meeting, Mr Mashwani received a phone call warning him his mother and father would be kidnapped if he attended – part of what Mr Khan’s supporters claim is a campaign of intimidation and suppression.
Mr Mashwani told The Independent: “I received the call and was told if I went to the meeting, I should forget about my brothers and that my parents would also be abducted.
“It is suffocating that even in the UK I am being threatened and cannot exercise my basic human rights. I am also worried I could be attacked.”
Since Mr Khan’s imprisonment in August 2023, which the UN has described as having no legal basis, hundreds of his supporters have been arrested and the government has signalled the banning of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Mr Mashwani, a key figure in Mr Khan’s government, fled Pakistan last year after his brothers were abducted by what he claimed were Islamabad’s security services, before settling in the UK in May 2024.
Lord Daniel Hannan, who chaired the discussion, told The Independent: “I was disturbed to hear that people involved in our hearing had been warned off attending, with threats made against family members in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is a friend and ally and it needs to restore the rule of law. Every friend of democracy should stand up and call for this.”
Mr Khan’s arrest triggered violent unrest across the south Asian country, with some supporters attacking facilities associated with the country’s military.
The riots have been used as the basis for the arrest of thousands of PTI workers and some of the criminal charges brought against Mr Khan, who was convicted on several charges just before the election in February.
It meant he could not stand for election, and his party was prevented from being registered. Its candidates ran as independents, although most media accredited their victories to the party.
Mr Khan has said all the charges against him are politically motivated and part of a wider effort by the country’s military and political establishment to keep his party – which won the most seats in this year’s general election – from power.
Last week, Pakistan’s information minister said his government was planning to ban Mr Khan’s political party based on the “proven” charge it received foreign funds from illegal sources, as well as rioting by supporters last year.
However, the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention has called for Mr Khan’s immediate release, saying he has been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law”.
The body added that Mr Khan’s detention had “no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for office”.
The Shehbaz Sharif government denies unfairly targeting the opposition party, and says criminal cases against PTI activists are justified given the attacks on military facilities in May last year.
The authorities accused Mr Khan of instigating violence and called his rioting supporters “arsonists” exhibiting “enmity against the motherland”.
