Thirty one members of Congress have written a letter addressed to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony, demanding that the US withhold recognition of the new government in Pakistan until a credible investigation into election interference is conducted.
Pakistan’s general elections, held on February 8, have been marked by widespread concerns over pre-poll rigging and election day interference from the country’s powerful military establishment. On election day, cellular mobile networks were suspended in an attempt to thwart ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the hours and days that followed were marked by unusual delays in the publication and certification of results.
Independent candidates backed by Imran Khan’s PTI won 93 seats, whereas PML-N secured 79, compared to PPP’s 54. The latter parties, stalwarts of Pakistan’s dynastic politics, have agreed to form a coalition government that is widely believed to have the blessings of the nation’s military establishment.
The letter counts Democratic Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Barbara Lee, Ro Khanna, Greg Casar and Susan Wild among its 31 signatories.
In the letter’s central demands, the lawmakers “urge Pakistani authorities to release anyone who has been detained for engaging in political speech or activity, and task State Department officials in Pakistan with gathering information about such cases and advocating for their release; and make clear to Pakistani authorities that U.S. law provides for accountability for acts that violate human rights, undermine democracy, or further corruption, including the potential for military and other cooperation to be halted.”
The letter cites the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) as claiming that “two-thirds of polling sites suffered from the kinds of election law violations that could have enabled changing outcomes of races.”
The Democratic lawmakers claim that Pakistan is a “long-standing ally of the United States,” but that it is in the US interest to “ensure that democracy thrives in Pakistan and that election results reflects the interests of the Pakistani people, not the interests of the Pakistani elite and military.”