62 US congressmen write to President Biden for PTI founder's release

WASHINGTON: 62 US Congressmen have called on President Joe Biden to advocate for the release of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and other political prisoners.

In their letter, the congressmen including prominent Muslim members Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib urged the Biden administration to seek assurances from Pakistani authorities regarding the PTI founder Imran Khan’s safety.

They also requested that US diplomats visit the PTI leader in prison and emphasized that US policy should focus on human rights conditions in Pakistan.

Khan has been in jail since August 2023 and has faced dozens of cases since he was removed as prime minister in 2022 after which he launched a protest movement against a coalition of his rivals led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Khan says cases against him, which disqualified him from contesting the February elections, are politically motivated.

Earlier, a top US diplomat for South and Central Asia has for the first time publicly addressed allegations of conspiring to oust Pakistan’s then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2022.

Testifying before the House Foreign Relations Committee, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu rejected the charge that he or his government played a role in fomenting Khan’s ouster.

“These allegations, this conspiracy theory, is a lie, it is a complete falsehood,” Lu said responding to a question by committee Chairman Representative Joe Wilson, a Republican from the US state of South Carolina.