US lawmakers express 'concern' over worsening human rights crisis in Pakistan

• Pramila Jayapal leads letter, signed by 44 lawmakers.
• They urge swift imposition of targeted measures.
• They say diaspora in US faced threats, intimidation.

Nearly four dozen US Congress members have raised their concerns about the “worsening human rights” situation in Pakistan, calling upon the Trump administration to take swift measures to address it.

“We write to express urgent concern over the escalating campaign of transnational repression and worsening human rights crisis in Pakistan under [...] government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” they wrote in a letter to Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State.

In recent years, they said in the letter, US citizens and residents who have spoken out against “abuses” in Pakistan have “faced threats, intimidation, and harassment often extending to their families in Pakistan”.

“These tactics include arbitrary detentions, coercion, and retaliatory violence, targeting diaspora individuals and their relatives,” the letter mentioned.

The letter was led by Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Congressman Greg Casar, while the total 44 signatories included Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ro Khanna, and Steve Cohen.

“These actions infringe upon the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which both Pakistan and the United States are party,” the letter mentioned.

The lawmakers said that while they recognise that the US-Pakistan partnership on counterterrorism and other issues is vital to US national security interests, these partnerships must be grounded in a mutual commitment to human rights, democratic governance, and the rule of law.

“We urge you to swiftly impose targeted measures, including visa bans and asset freezes, against officials responsible for transnational repression, widespread human rights violations, and systematic repression in Pakistan,” they said.

“We have called out transnational repression in other countries before and will continue to do so; the same principled approach must be applied here.”

They alleged that the “authoritarian system in Pakistan is sustained through relentless repression”, where opposition leaders are “held without charge, denied fair trial, and kept in indefinite pretrial detention”.

Independent journalists, they claimed, are harassed, abducted, or forced into exile.

“Pakistan is facing an escalating crisis of authoritarianism, where democratic institutions and fundamental freedoms are being systematically dismantled,” they added.