UK-based PTI member’s statement on family threat ‘false’: Information Minister

Information Minister Atta Tarr Has said that resident in UK Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Azhar Mashwani’s allegation is a ‘white lie’ Pakistan Threats were made to Mashwani regarding his parents living in

Atta Tarar has told Independent Urdu Correspondent Quratul Ain Shirazi that these allegations are white lies, they have no ‘proof and are just mental fabrications’.

Azhar Mashwani, a critic of the current government, has alleged that he was told that his parents would be kidnapped if he attended an event in the British Parliament.

Founder PTI Imran Khan Azhar Mashwani, a senior aide to Pakistan, was scheduled to speak at a hearing in the House of Lords on Tuesday to discuss Pakistan’s ongoing crackdown on the opposition.

But two days before the hearing, Azhar Mashwani received a phone call warning him that his mother and father would be kidnapped if he joined the debate. Imran Khan’s supporters claim that this is part of a campaign to intimidate and suppress him.

Azhar Mashwani told The Independent: ‘I received a call and was told that if I went to this debate, I should forget my brothers and my parents would also be kidnapped.’

He said: ‘It is suffocating that even in the UK I am being threatened and cannot exercise my basic human rights. I also fear that I may be attacked.’

Imran Khan has been under detention since August 2023 and the government recently hinted at banning his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Imran Khan’s former media coordinator Azhar Mashwani was absconding even before he settled in the UK in May 2024. Lord Daniel Hannon, who chaired the debate, told The Independent: ‘I am disturbed to hear that people are being threatened against their family members in Pakistan for joining our debate.

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According to him: ‘Pakistan is a friendly and ally country and it needs to restore the rule of law. Every democracy lover should stand up and raise his voice for this.’

When Imran Khan was arrested, violent protests were witnessed across the country, including attacks on military installations. The government says that these protests were planned by the leadership of Tehreek-e-Insaaf and because of this PTI leaders and workers were arrested.

Imran Khan says that all the cases against him were framed on the basis of political malice, which he says is a broader plan by the country’s military and political leadership to keep the PTI out of power in this year’s general elections. are part of the effort.

Last week, Pakistan’s information minister said his government was planning to ban Imran Khan’s political party based on “proven” allegations that the party received foreign funds through illegal sources and Only last year there was a riot by his supporters.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had on July 1 called for the immediate release of Imran Khan, saying he had been detained “illegally” in violation of international law.

But Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government denies all such allegations that PTI was unfairly targeted. The government says criminal cases have been instituted against PTI activists in the wake of attacks on military installations in May last year.