ISLAMABAD (PEN) : Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday responded to a recent UN report which opined that former premier Imran Khan’s incarceration was arbitrary, politically motivated and illegal.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Tarar said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder was incarcerated as a convict, emphasing that legal obligations were followed in handing over sentences to the former premier.
“The PTI founder has all the rights according to the country’s constitution and law and international standards. Any demand beyond the Constitution, law, and international principles will be called discriminatory, biased and against justice,” said the law minister.
UN WORKING GROUP’S VIEWPOINT
The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in an opinion said the jailed politician should be “released immediately”.
“Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan’s detention is arbitrary and in violation of international law,” the UN human rights working group said on Monday, adding the jailed politician should be released immediately.
The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said the “appropriate remedy would be to release Khan immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
US STATE DEPT
US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, while briefing the newsmen in Washington on Tuesday, said that Imran Khan’s detention is Pakistan’s internal matter.
Asked about the US House of Representatives resolution asking for a thorough and independent investigation into interference claims in Pakistan’s 2024 elections, Vedant Patel said that in the United States of America and our democratic system, Congress is a separate but coequal branch of government.
“We have consistently and privately and publicly urged Pakistan to respect the rights of its people in line with its constitution and international commitments,” he said.