Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan on Friday formally protested to the United Kingdom over threats made against Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir during a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest held outside the Pakistani consulate in Bradford.
The Foreign Office confirmed that a demarche was delivered to the UK’s Acting Head of Mission in Islamabad, Matt Cannell, after video footage surfaced showing a speaker at the protest allegedly issuing a car-bomb threat against the army chief. The footage was circulated by the “UKPTIOFFICIAL” social media account, according to Geo News.
FO spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said the protest, organised earlier this week, involved the use of “highly provocative and objectionable language” against Field Marshal Munir. According to official sources, demonstrators explicitly threatened his assassination, drawing parallels to the 1988 plane crash that killed former president General Zia-ul-Haq, the report added.
The Pakistani government took serious notice of the threats, stressing that British territory should not be allowed to be used for activities aimed at destabilising Pakistan. Islamabad has urged UK authorities to take strict legal action against those involved and hold them accountable under British law.
As British High Commissioner Jane Marriott was not in the country, Cannell was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs around 2pm to receive the demarche.
In response, a spokesperson for the British High Commission reiterated that law enforcement and prosecution in the UK operate independently of the government. “Where a foreign government believes a crime has been committed, they should provide all relevant material to their UK police liaison,” the spokesperson said, adding that any content appearing to violate UK law could lead to a criminal investigation.
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Earlier, Pakistan had shared the video footage and its transcript with UK authorities in both Islamabad and London, expressing “grave concern” over what it described as an unprecedented misuse of British territory for incitement to terrorism, violence, and internal destabilisation.
A formal letter sent by Pakistan noted that PTI-linked platforms operating from the UK had circulated content explicitly calling for the assassination of a senior military leader of a UN member state. “This content is neither rhetorical nor political. It constitutes explicit incitement to murder and glorification of violence,” the letter said.
The communication also warned that the messaging was being deliberately amplified to audiences inside Pakistan, with the intent to provoke unrest, street violence, and confrontation with state institutions. It added that PTI-affiliated platforms based in the UK had repeatedly encouraged disorder and violent mobilisation within Pakistan while operating beyond domestic accountability.
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Pakistan further stated that such actions violated international legal norms and recalled previous concerns raised with the UK regarding the use of its territory by individuals involved in militancy, separatism, and violent agitation against Pakistan.
“Freedom of expression does not include the freedom to incite murder or civil violence,” the letter said. “Political activism does not extend to conspiracy or encouragement of bloodshed, nor does political asylum confer immunity to promote terrorism or destabilisation abroad.”
