Lord Bruce of Bennachie
Main Page: Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD)
My Lord, I concur with everybody and congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Alexander, on securing this debate, which is clearly timely. I want to address the specifics first. Regardless of the merits and demerits of the case against Imran Khan—I will come to that—his treatment is disgraceful and inhumane by any standards. Solitary confinement is never a good experience and rarely justified, and refusing family or legal humanitarian visits is, frankly, a disgrace. It is against fundamental principles. As I think everybody has mentioned, denying his sons the right to travel to visit him is a denial of fundamental human rights. They are British citizens, so we have some responsibility to support them.
I am afraid that all of that suggests that the regime is anxious to divert attention. I do not think that it will succeed in that. It does not want the situation to be highlighted, but this debate is proof that it will be highlighted. Imran Khan and his supporters have denied the charges, and it is quite difficult to get detail of exactly what they are and what the evidence has been, but that is really not the point. The question is whether there been a clear, transparent and fair judicial process. That matters to us as friends of Pakistan and as a member of the Commonwealth and of the United Nations.
I have visited Pakistan a few times over the years and throughout that time the state of democracy has always been fragile and, to be honest, very much at the behest of the military. Khan started out as the darling of the military. The Sharif family was discredited and put in prison. Now the Sharif family is back, Khan and his party are being harried out of existence, and he is being kept where he cannot rally a revival. It is difficult to avoid seeing politics behind that, regardless of the merits or demerits of the case. Over the years, we have seen a political leader executed, which was shocking to us at the time, we have seen another, of the same party, assassinated, others suspended, and military takeovers. None of this bears the hallmark of a lively and vibrant democracy, which is what we all want to see in Pakistan and indeed around the world.
I say to the Government of Pakistan that if they feel somewhat aggrieved by the criticism, they should listen to the specific requests that are being made, which are about common humanity and standards, and accede to the requests for humane treatment and access to friends, advisors and families, and to his wife, who is also being effectively drawn into this; they should be allowed time together. The suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, of domestic detention seems to me to commend itself as the right way forward.
This month, 47 members of Imran Khan’s party have been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and substantial fines. You have to ask a very serious question about that. That is an awful lot of people for a lot of severe detention, regardless of what the terms are. I also see that Pakistan’s trade status within the EU is coming under question and the European Parliament is questioning the EU’s relationship with Pakistan over this specific case. As has been said by everybody, the UK has a particular relationship with Pakistan. We were, to some extent, instrumental in the creation of the country and I think—I hope—that we have a genuinely positive view of wishing the country to succeed and wishing it well.
The Minister has answered these questions. We are asking for a further escalation at Foreign Secretary level of strong representations to the Government to accede to these requests to allow his sons to visit, to bring him and his wife together, to allow him to have access to all the circumstances and civilised conditions he should have and not to be in solitary confinement, and I hope, perhaps to consider domestic detention. A test of democracy is a peaceful change of Government without recrimination. Pakistan has not met that test very often, and I say that with sadness, not with anger.
As a friend of Pakistan, it is important that Governments who have been on the other side of this argument understand the points that have been made and recognise that they have to raise their standards, show compassion, show tolerance and deal with justice. If there are things to be dealt with, they should do it openly, transparently and in accordance with the law that everybody can see and observe. That is not what is happening, and we have to express our sadness about it. We ask that the UK Government use all the good offices they can to persuade the Government of Pakistan to, at least, accede to these civilised and fair humanitarian requests, so that, regardless of the wider issues, not just Imran Khan but his followers are not treated in a way that most people would regard as inconsistent with good, democratic human rights. That is all we ask; it is not a lot to ask.