Home TRENDING PAKISTANI ELECTIONS ARE PUSHED BY US LAWMAKERS.

PAKISTANI ELECTIONS ARE PUSHED BY US LAWMAKERS.

PAKISTANI ELECTIONS ARE PUSHED BY US LAWMAKERS.

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At a recent gathering in Washington, DC, multiple US politicians called for Pakistan to hold free and fair elections on schedule and suggested that they be watched globally.

US Demo­crat congressman Brad Sherman. SCREENGRAB

American Pakistani Dr. Asif Mahmood hosted a panel discussion titled “Human Rights and Democracy in Pakistan,” which was co-sponsored by Democratic representatives Brad Sherman and Jim Costa.

Several of the speakers are current or former members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has significant sway over US foreign policy.

Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also showed up in large numbers.

A quote from Sherman’s speech at the event reads, “There are two things that the [US] State Department needs to state diplomatically that I will say, perhaps undiplomatically.

First, having free and fair elections that are closely monitored and overseen is crucial to US-Pakistan relations. Second, any attempt to kill a journalist in the United States is an assault on the country and its sovereignty, and I find it hard to believe that it would be accepted.

He was quoted as saying, “So of course I am concerned with this FBI report, and I cannot think of anything that could do more to hurt US-Pakistani relations than for the government to engage in deadly violence on American soil.”

Costa added that he hoped “Pakistan gets on a much better track.”
“Since the end of British rule, two things are constant: corruption and the army,” he declared. “Free and fair elections, democratic governments, and protection of human rights are essential to make the progress that the people of Pakistan deserve and need.”

Later, he emphasized how important it was for the United States to create “a much more coherent diplomatic strategy to […] try to get the good results that we all seek – the goals that we would like to seek for a longstanding good relationship between the US and Pakistan.”

Interestingly, these remarks follow a statement made by the United States just days earlier, in which it was said that “democratic principles and respect for the rule of law” were fundamental to the Pak-US relationship and that these values will continue to drive this bilateral alliance.

After a phone call with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the United States backed a democratic and successful cooperation with Pakistan.

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