In 2018, when former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury after being poisoned in an assassination attempt attributed to Moscow, the UK government reacted with swift and decisive action.
It expelled Russian diplomats, froze certain Russian state assets, and imposed other diplomatic sanctions.
Similarly, there has been official recognition of Chinese government-sponsored threats against UK citizens and dissidents, including Hong Kong activists and Uyghurs living in Britain.
However, when it comes to nations with closer security ties to Britain, such as Pakistan, there is a noticeable lack of similar outrage.
That is despite Pakistan’s military regime increasingly relying on transnational repression to silence its dissidents abroad – including those residing in the UK.
Transnational repression
The UK is home to over 1.6 million British citizens of Pakistani descent, making up nearly 2.5% of the total population, alongside another 180,000 residents of Pakistani nationality.
Among them are numerous political dissidents who have sought refuge from the military-dominated regime in Pakistan.
Many of them oppose the military’s grip on political affairs – particularly those like me who are associated with former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
If we remained in Pakistan, we would face surveillance, police brutality, imprisonment, torture or even being disappeared.
And yet we are not much safer abroad, it seems. Pakistan practices transnational repression: state-backed efforts to intimidate, harass, surveil, or coerce dissidents overseas.
Such tactics are often aimed at silencing critics, forcing them into compliance, or pressuring them to return to their country of origin.
The murder of one of Pakistan’s top journalists, Arshad Sharif, in Kenya in 2022 stands as a chilling testament to the lengths a military-controlled state appears to be prepared to go in order to silence dissent.
RELATED
My experience
As a former politician, lawyer, and now an exiled dissident in the UK, I have been subjected to systematic attempts by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, particularly the ISI, to silence me.
My refusal to serve their interests led to false criminal cases against me, the freezing of my assets, and the abduction of my close relatives.
In 2023, my house in Islamabad was attacked by paramilitary forces, and my younger brother, Murad Akbar, who had no involvement in my political activities, was taken hostage.
It was only through international pressure – including interventions by British MPs – that my brother was released after 100 days of illegal detention. But the threats did not end there.
Shortly after his release, I began receiving encrypted messages warning that “we are not done with you.”
Weeks later, on the evening of 26 November 2023, I was attacked at my UK residence.
When I answered the doorbell, a man dressed in biker gear and wearing a helmet and gloves threw an acidic liquid at my face.
My four-year-old daughter stood behind me as I was rushed to the hospital. The police arrived at the scene, collected evidence, and provided me with protection.
But despite the severity of the attack, there was no public outcry, no expulsion of Pakistani intelligence officers from the High Commission, and no official condemnation.
Instead, I was privately informed that a “strong message” had been delivered to the Pakistani authorities.
But behind closed doors, diplomatic rebukes mean little when acts of repression continue unchecked.
A broader pattern
My case is far from isolated. Following my attack, there was a surge in intimidation, legal harassment, and threats against Pakistani dissidents in the UK.
Retired Pakistani army major Adil Raja, who fled to the UK with his British national wife in 2022, has been a prime target.
In response to his whistleblowing efforts against the military’s corruption and abuses, Pakistan’s government kidnapped his elderly mother, revoked his passport, sentenced him in absentia, and froze his assets.
Further, they initiated a terrorism case against him in the UK, leading to his arrest and a six-month-long investigation. His alleged crime? Encouraging Pakistanis to protest against military rule on his YouTube channel.
The authorities are also afraid of TikTok. Umair Raj, a British citizen running a TikTok account critical of Pakistan’s military, had his father and brother abducted in Pakistan.
They were forced to call him and demand that he delete his account and refrain from criticizing the Pakistani army and its chief, General Asim Munir.
Meanwhile Shayan Ali, a British law student known for protesting against Pakistani military officials during their UK visits, saw his grandparents abducted in Pakistan as an attempt to silence him.
RELATED
And Azhar Mashwani, a former PTI social media head now in the UK, was coerced into deleting his social media after Pakistani military intelligence detained his brother.
The recurring pattern in these cases – kidnapping family members in Pakistan to blackmail dissidents in the UK – constitutes a clear violation of British laws, including the Taking of Hostages Act 1982.
Despite this, the UK government has remained largely silent, compared to the strong measures it took against Russia and China.
Pakistani military leaders, including the army chief, continue to be welcomed with red-carpet treatment at institutions like Sandhurst and high-profile meetings with British officials.
This preferential treatment raises questions about whether Britain’s reluctance to act is driven by political expediency rather than genuine concerns for human rights and the rule of law.
Hope for change?
This February, parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights began gathering evidence on transnational repression, taking testimony from experts and affected individuals.
While the initial focus appeared to be on China, Russia, and Iran, a significant number of British Pakistanis submitted evidence detailing the Pakistani state’s ongoing repression tactics in the UK.
Under the leadership of Lord Alton, this inquiry has the potential to shed light on Pakistan’s role in transnational repression.
However, whether the UK government will take meaningful action remains uncertain – especially given its security and economic ties to Pakistan’s military complex, including partnering in arms trade and and intelligence cooperation.
The British government has a choice: uphold its commitment to human rights and democratic values or continue enabling Pakistan’s military regime as it extends its authoritarian reach into Britain’s own backyard.
Until the UK acknowledges and confronts Pakistan’s growing use of transnational repression, its stance on human rights will remain selective at best – and complicit at worst.
