Two months ago, a legal notice from Pakistan’s National Cybercrimes Investigations Agency arrived at my ancestral home in Pakistan that accused me of spreading “anti-state content….on social media platforms” without specifying the posts in question. The letter, most likely in response to my public advocacy against the Pakistani regime’s human rights violations, demanded that I appear in person before the agency’s investigators. It warned that failure to comply could result in seizure of “tangible or intangible identity, property, and accounts.”
As a U.S. citizen based in Massachusetts, I have been exercising my First Amendment rights in doing my human rights advocacy. The legal notice was a chilling reminder of how far Pakistan’s military-backed regime would go to monitor and intimidate activists abroad. It is part of a growing global trend of transnational repression where, according to Freedom House, authoritarian “governments reach across national borders to silence dissent among their diaspora and exile communities.” Tactics include family harassment, digital surveillance, misuse of cybercrimes laws, smear campaigns, the abuse of INTERPOL to force the return of dissidents–and in some cases, extraterritorial killings.
Many Americans associate these practices with regimes like Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and Iran. Not many realize that Pakistan, a key U.S. security partner, is identified as one of 26 countries engaged in Transnational Repression (TNR) by Freedom House and the U.S. State Department.
At a time when the Trump administration has courted the Pakistani regime in exchange for critical minerals, cryptocurrency ventures, and counterterrorism cooperation, Congress and the American public need to recognize that transnational repression is not just a diaspora issue—it is a test of whether the United States can defend its own democracy and protect its citizens and their constitutionally protected rights.
My experience is far from isolated and certainly not as harrowing as what others have endured. In March, the brothers of Pakistani-American journalist Ahmad Noorani were abducted from their home in Pakistan the night Noorani published an investigative report on corruption and nepotism within the Pakistani military. They endured weeks of intense psychological torture and physical abuse and were released only after sustained international pressure.
The threats are not just limited to journalists and activists. Pakistani-Americans who are small-business owners, students, and TikTokers, have suffered family abductions and closure of businesses back in Pakistan for merely posting criticism online.
The Pakistani regime’s targeting of the diaspora reflects a broader pattern of military authoritarianism and systemic human rights violations in the country. It is well-documented that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies manipulate elections, censor the media, use lethal force against unarmed protestors, abduct and disappear Baloch and Pashtun nationalists, and intimidate judges by placing surveillance devices in their homes. They continue to detain hundreds of political prisoners, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose ongoing incarceration is deemed unlawful by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions.
With the recent passage of the twenty-seventh amendment—which grants lifetime immunity to General Asim Munir and effectively ends judicial independence in the country—the military leadership has cemented its iron grip over the country and its institutions.
For now, however, President Trump has chosen to disregard egregious human rights violations in Pakistan and has called the main architect of repression, Army Chief Asim Munir, his “favorite Field Marshal.”
And yet, this indifference carries real consequences. When the U.S. government supports authoritarianism abroad, it increasingly exposes its own citizens to foreign coercion and weakens democratic norms at home. It also sends a dangerous message to other authoritarian regimes. If America is unable to protect one diaspora community, it signals to other regimes that they too can threaten their dissidents with impunity.
In response to this growing threat, and as a result of diaspora efforts, 44 congressional Democrats, led by Representatives Pramila Jaypal (D-WA) and Greg Casar (D-TX), recently sent a forceful letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling on him to hold the Pakistani military and civilian leadership accountable for their role in targeting Pakistani-Americans and for infringing on their first amendment rights.
Although this is an encouraging step forward, more remains to be done. There is currently no legislation surrounding transnational repression, and Congress must advance existing bills in the House and Senate, such as the Transnational Repression Policy Act, to combat this scourge effectively.
The United States still lacks an official definition of transnational repression. In the absence of clear provisions, prosecutors have to rely on a patchwork of other statutes to pursue perpetrators. According to the New Lines Institute, a legal definition is also critical to developing “a whole of government approach” to meaningfully address transnational repression.
Federal law-enforcement agencies must also expand their outreach to diaspora communities and raise awareness of transnational repression, widely publicize emergency hotlines, and create clear mechanisms to report harassment or threats. Many people in the diaspora do not realize that there is a name for what they are enduring, and that tools exist within government and federal law-enforcement agencies to help them.
The United States holds significant leverage over Pakistan through programs like the International Military Education and Training (IMET), maintenance support for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet, and influence over IMF loans and access to financial systems. It must use that leverage to push back against Pakistan’s democratic collapse and escalating campaign of transnational repression. Long-term U.S. interests—whether on critical minerals, cryptocurrency, or regional security—require engagement with a stable, legitimately elected government to which the military is accountable. Such a government must respect the democratic aspirations of its 240 million people and not alienate its diaspora.
Foreign authoritarianism on American soil is not a distant problem. It is a direct assault on American citizens and the democratic norms that protect everyone. The United States must act decisively to defend both.