U.S. lawmakers demand investigation into Pakistan’s election rigging claims

Thirty-one members of the U.S. Congress recently signed a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging them not to recognize Pakistan’s new government pending an investigation into allegations of election interference. Pakistani voters go to the polls on February 8.

On election day, Pakistani authorities blocked mobile services and violence broke out. Many political leaders and activists were arrested in the weeks leading up to the election. There was an unusual delay in the release of election results. All of this has led to accusations that the vote was rigged.

VOA Urdu reporter Ilam Abbasi interviewed U.S. Rep. Greg Cassar, a Texas Democrat who wrote a letter to Biden.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Voice of America: What three requests did you make to the White House and State Department in your letter?

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar: I led a group of more than 30 members of Congress asking the United States and the White House, among others, not to recognize those claiming to have won Pakistan’s election until an independent investigation is completed showing that the election was not rigged. .

Secondly, we urge the release of anyone wrongfully detained for engaging in free political speech or political activity, because people should be able to be journalists, to be candidates, to be political activists without fear of detention or violence against them.

Finally, we want to make it clear that U.S. security assistance to the Pakistani military, and frankly to the military anywhere in the world, depends on strict human rights standards.

Voice of America: What prompted you to lead 31 members of Congress in writing this letter to the President and Secretary Blinken?

marry: if we believe in democracy [in] If it’s the United States, then we should have faith in democracy around the world, especially for our allies.

I myself have long studied how the United States suppresses democracy in Latin America. In Latin America, the United States is often considered a leader in democracy, but in reality has allowed oligarchs, big corporations and military interests to override the will of the people.

As a result, the United States supported coups, supported military governments, and suppressed democracy in Latin America. This ultimately hurts not just Latinos, but Americans as well. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work financially. This has no effect on our security.The same applies to [the] United States and Pakistan. We should not simply allow geopolitics, corporations, or our military alliances to trump the core values ​​of our democracy.

Voice of America: You just said that the United States supports coups around the world. Some may say that by writing this letter, you may be asking the United States to interfere in Pakistan’s internal affairs.

marry: We do not interfere in these internal politics. In fact, the question is whether there were free and fair elections. Our interest, therefore, is not whether one group or the other wins the election. The people of Pakistan should be able to decide their own elections. … We have very clear laws that make aid conditional on whether human rights are respected and whether freedom of expression is respected. We don’t want American taxpayer dollars going to the military and then using that money to jail journalists, suppress free speech, or suppress political parties.

Voice of America: I have spoken to the State Department about this before because these efforts have been made in the past. Their position is that they want the people of Pakistan to decide who their leader should be. What’s your opinion?

marry: I agree that they should… We should not interfere in domestic politics, whoever the people of Pakistan want to be elected with a majority should be elected. So, the question is, does this happen? And there’s a lot of video evidence, a lot of testimony. The fact is that the State Department knows that there are very credible allegations in the video about what happened before the election and allegations after the election that are very concerning to the United States, but also very concerning and even more concerning. People of Pakistan. So I’m not saying we should deny recognition to the government for no reason. We should just ensure that the will of the people of Pakistan is heard.

Voice of America: If the State Department had received such requests in the past, what do you think you could accomplish with this letter? As you said, there are examples of how journalists have been jailed and how there have been some voices in Pakistan claiming that the election was allegedly rigged. The government denies this. But what do you think you can get out of it?

marry: I think if there was an independent and credible investigation into these allegations and it was determined that the election was either grossly rigged or not rigged, but the United States and a coalition of countries supported whatever the investigation found — that would be very powerful in Very important on the world stage and hopefully help us build a more stable, secure and democratic Pakistan, which will be good for the whole world because, as you know, this is a country of over two hundred million people. This is no small thing for the world.

Voice of America: In your letter, there are suggestions of pre-vote fraud, as well as allegations of election fraud. Your letter seems to contain sentiments towards former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as if he was in jail for the wrong reasons or he didn’t get a fair trial?

marry: I believe everyone deserves a fair trial and that’s very important to him [to receive a fair trial]. …The people of Pakistan want to be able to recognize that and know that their elections were fair and their leaders were fairly chosen. So I think it’s important that he get a fair trial. This is important to everyone, and certainly to those political leaders. Again, I am not interested in whether he or anyone else leads Pakistan. This is not our interest in America. Pakistan should be able to determine its own domestic politics.