WASHINGTON: The United States wants the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh to meaningfully participate in electing their governments, says the US State Department.

In the US Congress, the chairperson of the Pakistan caucus, too, joined a growing number of lawmakers who are expressing concern at reported human rights abuses in Pakistan.

“We value our longstanding bilateral relationships with both Pakistan and Bangladesh,” a State Department spokesperson told journalists in Washington.

“We are committed to supporting a future in which all Pakistanis and Bangladeshis can meaningfully participate in their governments and determine the outcomes of their elections pursuant to their constitution and laws,” the US official added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week announced a new visa policy to support free, fair, and peaceful national elections in Bangladesh.

Under this policy, the US will restrict the issuance of visas for any Bangladeshi individual believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the country’s democratic election process.

Later, Bangladesh announced that it was taking steps to tackle unlawful interference in its elections. In Washington, Bangladesh’s three-term Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s style of functioning is seen as increasingly authoritarian. There are indications that the US could be more open to a political change in Dhaka.

However, the US administration has been refusing to take sides in Pakistan’s current political turmoil. Every time the issue was raised at an official briefing in Washington, US officials made it clear that Washington would not support any particular candidate or party in Pakistan.

When pressed for a Pakistan-specific comment, the officials would say: “The United States is committed to the promotion of democracy and free and fair elections all over the world.”

The situation, however, is different on Capitol Hill where former prime minister Imran Khan’s supporters have won over a large number of sympathizers in both the House and the Senate.

Recently, 69 congresspersons sent a letter to Secretary Blinken, asking him to use “all tools” at his disposal to protect democracy in Pakistan. They are now trying to generate a similar move in the Senate.

On Friday, PTI’s US chapter also won over the founding, and current, chairperson of the Pakistan Caucus in the House, Sheila Jackson Lee.

“As the founder and chair of the … Congressional Pakistan caucus, I am extremely concerned about the reports that are coming out of Pakistan of human rights abuses and the lack of protection for those who express peaceful opposition to the government,” she wrote in a series of tweets posted on her site.

Ms Jackson Lee said she was particularly concerned that the former prime minister was “arrested multiple times” and there “appears to be no provision for a just response to this apparent unfairness.”

She also demanded that people in Pakistan should have the right to “a free, safe and unfettered protest.” She said she would be writing to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken and ask them to insist on the ending of these human rights violations against the opposition and others.

“And additionally, to ensure that we continue to promote the US and Pakistani relationship and a democratic Pakistan,” she wrote.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2023