Imran Khan: Imprisonment

Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[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.