PTI urges US lawmaker to sponsor bill tying Pakistan's military aid to human rights situation

• PTI in US scrambles to get Washington's support for anti-state narrative. 
• PTI's focal person Sajjad Burki, member Atif Khan meet Greg Casar.
• Casar says "important to have human rights, democracy everywhere".

While Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) calls for the "haqeeqi azaadi" (real freedom), its workers in the United States are scrambling to get Washington's support for its anti-state narrative on the other. 

After PTI's senior leader Shahbaz Gill, registered himself as PTI's "foreign agent" in the US, PTI supporters are working to get Washington's military aid to Pakistan conditioned to the protection of human rights in the country, it emerged on Monday.

PTI's focal person in the US Sajjad Burki and party member Atif Khan met Congressman Greg Casar and requested him to do his part in bringing a resolution against the human rights violations in Pakistan.

While asking Casar's support for the resolution, Burki said that 86 members of the US Congress had signed PTI's petition so they want him to become a part of it as well.

“You should be able to count on me to be somebody who is asking questions about how the US could be supporting democracy and human rights in Pakistan and other places," the Congressman said in response.

Earlier, Khan thanked Casar for joining them in Houston, Texas, after being asked to make a statement about the current conditions in Pakistan

“We would request you to address some of the conditions we’ve talked about earlier, and we request you as a Congressperson here in the US to address those situations,” Khan said. 

In response, Casar said that he knew how "important it is for us to have human rights and democracy not just here in the US but everywhere we can".

He said that "repression" against the press and equal participation and everything being said about Pakistan "hurts our economy".

He affirmed the commitment to continue to work together to find a solution where people can choose their government and where the military is there for the safety and not interfering in the democracy.

PTI has been hit with an exodus of leaders following the May 9 violent leaders, with its senior leadership parting ways after condemning the attacks on military installations.