The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday summoned the United Kingdom’s acting high commissioner in connection with a protest outside the Pakistani consulate in Bradford, where “provocative” statements were made against Pakistan’s civil and military leadership.
FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that the acting UK high commissioner was summoned and issued a démarche.
“The demarche was issued after provocative statements were made against Pakistan’s civil and military leadership from British soil,” the FO spokesperson said.
The FO urged the UK to “hold responsible elements accountable in accordance with the law”.
Earlier, two ministers of state from the PML-N said that the Pakistan government had written a letter to the UK authorities, seeking action over “inciteful” statements, particularly in reference to a video that was circulating on social media.
Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry and Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani confirmed that development to Geo News, with the latter particularly mentioning that “the head of armed forces was threatened” in the video.
Kayani also mentioned the opposition PTI’s involvement in the matter, naming the party, which Chaudhry didn’t.
In the video, a woman appears to be wishing ill on a person without taking any name, saying that they should be “blown up in a car”. The woman can be seen surrounded by people holding PTI flags.
When asked about the video, Chaudhry said, “Pakistan has formally written to the UK, expecting them to act according to their laws and justice system.“
He maintained that Pakistan had the right to take legal action against those “targeting its institutions”.
Chaudhry recalled that there had been complaints before as well regarding the “use of social media platforms to incite hatred against state institutions and political figures”.
“The footage of the incident is available,” he added, referring to the video being discussed.
He added, “This is not a political matter, nor one pertaining to the freedom of speech.” It was a clear violation of international law and the UK law, he said, particularly mentioning the UK’s Terrorism Act 2006.
“Every state is responsible for ensuring its citizens, or those who have taken asylum, or those residing there, don’t act to incite rebellion or violence against other sovereign states,” he stressed.
Chaudhry further noted: “What’s concerning is the specific mention of a car bomb blast, making it a targeted issue; it is not something generalised, it seems to be carefully planned.“
“Pakistan has raised these concerns,” he said.
“It appears as if there is a larger plan involved, and Pakistan has raised these concerns,” Chaudhry said.
He maintained that “inciting terrorism or provoking people was not akin to freedom of expression”.
“You can not have people in one state promoting terrorism against another sovereign state,” he reiterated.
He hoped that the British government would take action, adding that in case of non-compliance, “Pakistan has other options as well“.
Minister of State for Finance Kayani termed the incident shown in the video “unacceptable” and “unfortunate”.
“We have repeatedly said that PTI spreads violence and threats under the guise of politics, justifies threats, and misuses freedom of speech,” Kayani said.
He added that the party had “crossed a limit” by “threatening the armed forces’ chief with murder under the guise of political protest”.
“That’s not politics[..] it’s unacceptable,” he said.
He termed PTI a “national security threat”, alleging that it had always used politics to cover for “violence”.
“Whether on May 9, using KP police to attack soldiers, and threatening the army chief […] if that’s not a national security threat, what is?” he said.
In response to a question on whether the Pakistani government would take action in the matter, he said, “First, we will urge the UK government to take immediate legal action and investigate the matter”.
However, he added that the government was open to “exploring other legal options”.
Earlier this month, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had said that the government would repatriate from the UK those (YouTubers) involved in targeting the state institutions.
When asked about criticism directed towards the army chief, Naqvi had said: “The state is clear. We will not spare them.“
On Dec 4, the interior minister, in a meeting with the UK High Commissioner Jane Marriott, submitted extradition papers for former special assistant to the prime minister Shahzad Akbar and YouTuber Adil Raja, who Naqvi said were involved in spreading “anti-Pakistan propaganda” online.
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