- Demarche handed to UK’s acting head of mission.
- PTI activist issued threats to CDF Asim Munir.
- Pakistan hopes UK will take action against miscreants.
The Foreign Office said on Friday it had issued a demarche to the United Kingdom’s envoy in Islamabad over threats made against Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir during a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest outside the Pakistani consulate in Bradford.
FO spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi, confirming Geo News’ report, said UK Acting Head of Mission Matt Cannell was handed the demarche — a protest registered through diplomatic channels — over the former ruling party’s event abroad.
In a video uploaded by the “UKPTIOFFICIAL” account, a woman speaker — during the event held earlier this week — can be heard making a car bomb violence threat against Field Marshal Munir, similar to the plane blast that took the life of General Zia ul Haq nearly three decades ago.
According to sources, the political party’s official account was used to mobilise protesters in the United Kingdom. “During the protest, demonstrators used highly provocative and objectionable language against the CDF.”
They added that death threats were also issued against the Field Marshal, with protesters allegedly saying he would be killed in a car bomb attack.
The sources said the Pakistani government had taken serious notice of the threats issued from British soil and stressed that the UK should not allow its territory to be used to destabilise Pakistan.
Pakistan hopes, the sources said, that the British authorities will take strict action against such miscreants and hold them accountable under the law.
According to sources, the United Kingdom’s Deputy Head of Mission, Cannell, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at around 2pm as British High Commissioner Jane Marriott was not present in the country.
Hours before the demarche, the Pakistan government handed over the video and its transcript to the UK authorities — in Islamabad and London — expressing “grave concern regarding a serious and unprecedented misuse of British territory for activities that amount to incitement to terrorism, violence, and internal destabilisation of a sovereign state”.
The letter pointed out that the official social media account of PTI UK has circulated video material in which individuals, while physically present in the United Kingdom, are openly calling for the assassination of Field Marshal Munir.
“This content is neither rhetorical nor political. It constitutes explicit incitement to murder and the glorification of violence against the senior military leadership of a UN Member State.”
Equally alarming is that this messaging is deliberately amplified to audiences inside Pakistan, with the clear intent of provoking unrest, street violence, and confrontation with state institutions, the letter mentioned.
It added that PTI-linked platforms operating from the UK have repeatedly issued calls encouraging disorder, agitation, and violent mobilisation within Pakistan — effectively seeking to instigate internal violence from abroad while remaining beyond domestic accountability.
The letter states that the actions violated multiple international laws and that Pakistan has, over the years, raised concerns regarding the repeated use of UK territory by individuals and groups engaged in militancy, separatism, and violent agitation against Pakistan.
“While such matters have strained bilateral confidence in the past, the present incident represents a qualitative escalation: the open call for assassination combined with sustained incitement to violence and unrest inside Pakistan.”
“Freedom of expression does not include the freedom to incite murder or civil violence. Political activism does not extend to conspiracy or encouragement of bloodshed. Political asylum does not confer immunity to promote terrorism or destabilisation abroad.”
