The United States Congress can soon urge the administration of President Donald Trump to consider imposing sanctions on countries that suppress religious freedom and violate human rights, republican congressman Christopher H. Smith suggested during an audience at Congress on Pakistan on Tuesday.
“One of the greatest disappointments, regardless of who is in the White House or in the State Department, is the absence of sanctions,” said Smith, who co -presides over Tom Lantos’s Human Rights Commission (TLHRC).
Smith recalled that the only individual was once sanctioned under the laws of religious freedom of the United States was the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the rijarat rijarat 2002. “We are going to call the Irffa office to consider imposing [sanctions] – Especially in the light of the terrible acts committed against people of several religions, ”he said.
Irffa’s office, based in the State Department, enforces the International Law on Religious Freedom, which authorizes the United States government to designate and penalize countries that participate or tolerate severe religious persecution.
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The director of Defense of Amnesty International for Europe and Central Asia, Ben Linden; PTI Zulfi Bukhari leader; The managing director of the law firm Persus Strategies, Jared Genser; And the founder of Afghanistan Impact Network, Sadiq Amini, provided his testimonies during the audience.
Although the TLHRC does not directly recommend sanctions, Smith’s comments were widely seen as a sign that such measures may be under consideration if current trends persist.
His democratic counterpart, congressman James McGovern, echoed the concern. “A vibrant Pakistani community in Massachusetts involves me all the time, and frankly, they are concerned about the signs that come from our government at this time,” he said.
Speaking about the political climate in Pakistan, McGovern added: “They need to know that people are looking at. They need to know that we don’t like what we are listening to.”
The bipartisan audience focused on civil liberties and political freedoms in Pakistan, highlighting repression reports, persecution of minorities and efforts to silence dissidents abroad.
Ben Linden de Amnesty opened his testimony by raising concerns about the situation in Baluchistan.
“Dr. Mahrang and other detainees of Baloch should be released,” he said, referring to the rights activist he has been in prison for more than three months for cases by “attacking” the Civil Hospital of Quetta and “incite people to violence.”
A day ago, an Amnesty International campaign letter asked Baluchistan’s prime minister, Sarfaraz Bugti, to “release all Baloch activists detained.”
Linden warned that recent repressions in PTI supporters should be seen in the context of a broader assault on fundamental rights.
“Ahmadis and other religious minorities are being attacked, while local authorities do not protect them,” he said. “Blasphemia laws vaguely drafted are being armed by majority religious groups, while the defendants have few means to defend themselves.”
In 2024 alone, more than 300 new cases of blasphemy were recorded, most against Muslims. “Several of the defendants were extrajudicially killed,” said Linden, describing the “tragedy” trend.
He also condemned the recent lock of the YouTube channels based in the United States.
However, Jared Genser of Perseus’ strategies emphasized that Washington could not afford to be completely disconnected.
“We do not act that way with any regime. We have to participate. The key is for President Trump and the Secretary [of State] Marco Rubio to say very clearly: we want a strong relationship with Pakistan, but this is what should be done to get there. And that includes liberation [ex-prime minister] Imran Khan and other political prisoners, ”said Manser.
He pointed out: “We need to talk about the tragedy that Pakistan is today in terms of human rights. The Pakistani diaspora is a ray of hope.”
McGovern agreed: “We need to talk. We need to participate. And we need to talk about political prisoners, the future of Imran Khan … but also how you do it.”
The audience also went to the White House meeting last week between Trump and the head of the Field Field teacher also.
Bukhari, a former assistant close to Imran, told the panel: “President Trump wanted to meet someone who is taking the shots. That’s why he met the Army Chief.”
Bukhari said that almost 200 politically motivated cases had been presented against Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi. He claimed that “the fundamental rights had been suspended” in Pakistan, the silenced media and judicial independence undermined through “coercive” amendments.
Sadiq Amini, founder of the Afghanistan impact network, focused on what he called the “duplicity” of Pakistan in his relationship with the United States, claiming that former First Imran minister was “used” to deceive Trump during his first mandate.
“After the announcement of its strategy in southern Asia, [Imran] Khan hastened Washington with a message of peace from the Talibanes, a message that was actually a carefully elaborated deception by his Russian counterparts. He convinced President Trump to follow a peace agreement with the Taliban, who only empowered them. “
He argued that the peace process finally failed, which led to the withdrawal of the United States and to the emergence of a “gender apartheid regime” in Kabul.
Amini also claimed that Imran, as Prime Minister, acted as spokesman for the Taliban, promoting them as an indigenous movement that serves Afghan interests.
He warned that Pakistan’s leadership could not gain the confidence of the US. “Pakistani leaders, both military and civilians, complain about the Taliban threat. But even now, they say that the Taliban are good for Afghanistan but bad for Pakistan. That is a shameless sample of duplicity.”
He also denounced the arrest and deportation of Pakistan Afghan refugees as “shameful and inhuman”, and asked the United States to reevaluate Islamabad’s commitment to democracy.
In previous comments, the co -chair of TLHRC, Smith, warned that the United States “cannot wait”, while military influence supposedly subverts the civil government in Pakistan.
Earlier on Tuesday, American legislators also heard disturbing accounts of harassment faced by Pakistani dissidents in the United States. Multiple speakers alleged that within 48 hours of a protest outside the Pakistani embassy in Washington on June 14, “critics family members were kidnapped in Pakistan.”
The legislators, including Democratic representatives Jimmy Panetta, their Subramanyam and Greg Casar, expressed support to safeguard the civil freedoms of Pakistani Americans.
In March, Panetta and Republican congressman Joe Wilson had introduced a bipartisan bill in the United States representatives, asking for sanctions from Pakistani state officials for alleged human rights violations.
A month earlier, American congressmen Joe Wilson and August Pfluger had written to Rubio, urging him to interact with Pakistan to ensure the launch of Imran.
During the commission hearing, the speakers also urged Congress to supervise foreign surveillance operations on American soil and to press the technology companies to resist censorship demands of foreign military courts.
Established in 2008 and appointed after the survivor of the Holocaust and former president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, Tom Lantos, the TLHRC celebrates bipartisan audiences to guide the United States Human Rights Policy.
Tuesday’s session stressed long -standing concerns about Pakistan’s democratic trajectory and pointed out a growing interest in possible political responses, including specific sanctions.
Earlier this month, the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) expressed its deep concern for the constant space for the defense of human rights. His annual report for 2024 also highlighted a worrying decrease in civic freedoms, the deterioration of law and order, and marked tension in federalism.
The Civicus monitor rights tracker has listed the status of Pakistan as “repressed” and has added the country to its list of human rights watches by 2025 due to a narrow civilian space.
The organization based in Washington DC Freedom House classified Pakistan as “partially free” in political rights and civil liberties in its latest annual report, with the country losing three points of the previous year.
