Monitoring Desk: After 62 US lawmakers demanded the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, over 20 members of the British Parliament followed them and demanded the UK Foreign Secretary to ask Pakistan to release Khan immediately.
The Pakistani government does not respond to foreign intervention in domestic politics because the ruling party—PMLN has a close connection with the United Kingdom and the businesses of the family of former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif are in the UK and he also lives there whenever he does not feel comfortable in Pakistan. Officially, neither his party nor his government express a reaction to the alleged involvement of foreign countries in Pakistani politics. However, second-tier leadership sometimes claims that Imran Khan is part of “Operation Goldsmiths” and Imran Khan is a ‘Western asset’.
According to media reports, over 20 cross-party UK parliamentarians wrote a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy demanding him ‘to engage with the Pakistani government’ for the release of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The letter is signed by members from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The signatories include MPs Kim Johnson, Paula Barker, Apsana Begum, Liam Byrne, Rosie Duffield, Gill Furniss, Paulette Hamilton, Peter Lamb, Andy McDonald, Apsana Begum, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, as well as Lord Peter Hain, Lord John Hendy, and Lord Todoanfel.
UK lawmakers like US lawmakers have expressed grave concerns over the situation as Khan is in jail under trial for cases of abuse of power, fraud, and criminal conspiracies. Western lawmakers call Khan’s arrest under the charges of crimes as suppressing political opponents in Pakistan. It may be mentioned that the British Embassy in Islamabad is showing great interest in the release of Khan and the staff of the embassy has been meeting politicians, think tanks, civil society representatives, and media men asking them about Khan’s cases.
When contacted, responsible officials who deal with cases against Imran Khan were of the view that getting Imran Khan and his associates out of the trap of the May 9 Mutiny is also the main objective of Western embassies in Islamabad. They also claim that not only the UK Embassy in Pakistan is active, but other diplomatic platforms such as the European Union are actively following Imran’s cases and are in contact with journalists and Human Rights organizations in Islamabad.
The former prime minister Imran Khan who was voted out of office in April 2022 is getting exceptional space in Western media, and over 140 articles have appeared in his favour in European and North American media since he was sent to jail. No such former prime minister of Pakistan got this much space in foreign media although late Benazir Bhutto, Muhammad Khan Junejo, and Mian Nawaz Sharif were sent home but no such response came from foreign media in their favor as Khan is receiving.
Political circles believe that the exceptional media space that Imran is getting in foreign media is due to lobbying firms his party has hired. Some believe his team is sitting in the United States, operating freely from there, and meeting foreign journalists. The most lethal misconception is that Imran Khan is getting this favor from foreign media because he was jailed.
A brief review of the media outlook of Imran’s coverage in Western media indicates that more than 140 articles appeared in the last year in favor of PTI and against Pakistan in Western media, several international media TV documentaries appeared, and anti-Pakistan resolutions moved in American Congress and Great Britain Parliament and running paid anti-Pakistan campaigns on vehicles and ships were observed. President Zardari linked such activities in the past with the ‘House of Goldsmith’. Goldsmith’s followers are engrossed in the genocide of innocent Muslims in Gaza but with extreme hypocrisy and shamelessness, they are spreading fabricated propaganda about false human rights violations in Pakistan.
“Today, Pakistan is facing a situation where foreign powers are creating “fictional reasoning” for “reason to believe” that Pakistan is supporting anti-western powers in the Middle East and US’s sanctions, human rights reports, and media reports are creating fictional reasoning that human rights are in danger in Pakistan and politicians. As said by Aristotle “Nothing Happens Without a Reason”, so what is the reason that West is continuously trying to get Khan out of jail? The reason is simple. The Western powers have fundamentally reached the point where if the Pakistani government does not assimilate with them, they will put their elimination mechanism in full gear”, commented a senior journalist when asked to share his insight on the situation.
