Imran Khan: Imprisonment
Baroness Alexander of Cleveden
To ask His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Pakistan regarding the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, particularly with regard to his access to medical care.
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)
My Lords, while Pakistan’s judicial processes are, of course, a matter for Pakistan, we are clear that the Pakistani authorities need to respect fundamental freedoms, including the rights to a fair trial, due process, humane detention and access to appropriate medical treatment. This applies to Imran Khan as it does to all Pakistan citizens. Ministers and officials have regularly raised with Pakistani counterparts the need to uphold Pakistan’s constitution and international human rights obligations, including with respect to Imran Khan.
Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Lab)
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her Answer. As she will be aware, there are a number of parliamentary Questions outstanding on this matter, given the deterioration in Imran Khan’s health recently. I am aware that the FCDO has been particularly responsive to the case of Jimmy Lai and his family. In that context, it would be helpful if my noble friend would commit to meeting with Imran Khan’s family and specifically raising his case with the Government of Pakistan.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that question. Obviously, there is an important difference between the cases of Jimmy Lai and Imran Khan, because Jimmy Lai is British. We have specific responsibilities and obligations towards our citizens that, whatever else we might think about these cases, do not apply in the same way when we are talking about someone of a different nationality. However, I assure my noble friend that Ministers and officials have raised, in the appropriate way, as she would want them to do, our concerns about cases when we need to, including the case of Imran Khan.
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)
I think anyone who is paying attention understands that Imran Khan has been denied access to lawyers and to his family, including his two sons, who are my nephews. He has been denied access even to doctors. We understand that he has spent much of his time in prison in solitary confinement, and his health is deteriorating rapidly. Does the Minister agree that now is the time for us to reconsider our aid contributions to Pakistan—Pakistan is often at the top of the list of recipients of UK aid—until that country’s Government demonstrate a clear, unambiguous commitment to the Commonwealth Charter that it signed up to, which commits it to an independent judiciary and the rule of law?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
It is important—and we maintain this position for all those held in prison—that people get access to healthcare and to their families. We have made that case, because that is consistent with the position of this Government and the previous one, and we will continue to do so. The noble Lord asks about our development spending. As he knows, we made a decision around this time last year to cut our development spending by around 40%, and we will be making further announcements shortly about the detail of that—what will be happening in which countries, and what it will be spent on.
Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
My Lords, in addition to the health concerns of Imran Khan, the Pakistan Government also prosecuted and sentenced many opposition figures who demonstrated against the Government, and there is significant worry about the extent of the state capture of the Pakistan economy by the military. In the UK-Pakistan trade dialogue that was announced in July last year, there was, regrettably, no reference to human rights. Can the Minister reassure the House that we are recognising human rights as a critical part of our trading relationship, and that we are not offering preferential market access to the very military enterprises that are committing human rights abuses?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
We have very real concerns about the inappropriate use of military courts and the lack of transparency in the way they operate. We discuss this, as the noble Lord would want us to do, with Government of Pakistan. Having a flourishing trading relationship is helpful when it comes to being able to raise these matters effectively. I take on board completely his point about our need to make sure that human rights are integral when we make these decisions.
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, we have plenty of time. We will hear first from the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, and then we will come to the Labour Benches.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My Lords, I thank the Chief Whip. Following on from the question from my noble friend Lord Goldsmith, specific facilitation can be done. The Minister—for whom many in the House, if not all, have great respect—can practically help to facilitate access for British citizens. Sulaiman and Kasim, the sons of Imran Khan, are British citizens. I ask the Minister please to use her best offices to facilitate the two sons meeting their father, particularly as he is now receiving the acute and important medical treatment he needs, on the decision of the courts of Pakistan, to ensure that that medical attention is supported by family access of his own two sons.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
We want those imprisoned, particularly when they are undergoing such intensive medical treatment, as I believe has happened—I think a successful operation took place in January, and there has been further treatment since—to have access to family members, whether through visits or other means. That is important at times like these. This is slightly complicated by the fact that, as the noble Lord will appreciate, decisions about the Pakistan immigration system are controlled by the Pakistani Government, but we make the general case that we would want to see access to family for anyone held in such circumstances.
Lord Sikka (Lab)
My Lords, successive Governments show selective outrage at repression by authoritarian states such as China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, but offer very soft criticism when identical acts are committed by trade and defence partners. The Government have the tools: they can exert pressure on the army generals controlling Pakistan by ending aid and imposing trade sanctions, but they have not. Can the Minister refer me to any moral principle guiding the Government’s foreign policy?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I do not think it would be the right thing to do to end all aid to Pakistan. That is not the Government’s position, and that is my view. I say that because the need is there, because British interests are there, because the climate impact is there, and because of the counterterrorism issues that we work alongside the Pakistani Government to tackle, which I would say is absolutely in the interests of this country.
Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)
My Lords, Pakistan has a history of imprisoning its former Prime Ministers, whether the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was imprisoned and ultimately hanged, or Nawaz Sharif, who also served time in prison. In November 2019, the UK Government allowed Nawaz Sharif to come to the United Kingdom to receive medical treatment. If the family and the party members of Imran Khan were to put a similar request in, what would His Majesty’s Government’s response be?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I am not able to answer that question today. That, obviously, would be a question that the Home Office would want to consider according to our immigration policy. But I just remind noble Lords, in case anybody gets the idea that Pakistan is the only country in respect of which we have concerns about the rule of law and democracy, and that we do close business with, that there are many places, sadly, where former leaders find themselves imprisoned. We do not condone it, but we have a relationship with Peru, for example, for many important reasons to do with security and the environment. We are not in a situation where we conduct international relations only with countries that adhere completely to our values and that are run in the way we would like to see ours run.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)
My Lords, the Minister is, of course, quite right that Imran Khan is not a British subject, despite his long and deep connections to this country. None the less, I do not think that any British Government can be indifferent to the fate of Pakistan, a Commonwealth ally to which we are intimately linked—there are nearly 1.5 million Brits of Pakistani origin. The reason why Imran Khan is in prison is that he would win a free election, and Pakistan cannot begin to have stability and the investment that would flow from that until there is a restoration of democracy. Will the Minister set out some kind of timetable whereby we encourage the authorities in Pakistan to allow a free and inclusive election, maybe not tomorrow but within a reasonable timeframe, which will allow the return of democratic stability and the economic revival of that country?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
We have concerns, which I know the noble Lord shares, about the election in 2024 and we raise these with the Government of Pakistan. But one of the reasons why it is important to keep our trade and development relationships with Pakistan thriving is so we can work specifically on these issues of democratic engagement, inclusive politics and the rule of law. These things matter a great deal to us, and we are able to work through civil society organisations and directly with regional governments to try to improve the situation, for the very reasons the noble Lord articulated so effectively.