Islamabad, December 26, 2025: The Pakistani Foreign Office (FO) on Friday 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 confirmed that UK Acting Head of Mission Matt Cannell was handed the demarche—a formal protest lodged through diplomatic channels—concerning the former ruling party’s event in the UK.
In a video uploaded by the “UKPTIOFFICIAL” account, a woman speaker at the protest can be heard making a car bomb threat against Field Marshal Munir, referencing a plane blast similar to the one that killed former General Zia ul Haq nearly three decades ago.
According to sources, PTI’s official UK account was used to mobilise protesters, who reportedly used highly provocative language and issued explicit death threats against the CDF, including threats of a car bomb attack.
The Pakistani government has taken serious notice of these threats from British soil and stressed that the UK must ensure its territory is not used to destabilise Pakistan. Authorities hope British officials will take strict action against those involved and hold them accountable under the law.
Deputy Head of Mission Matt Cannell was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs around 2pm, as British High Commissioner Jane Marriott was out of the country. Prior to the demarche, Pakistan had provided UK authorities in Islamabad and London with the video and its transcript, 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 FO letter noted that PTI UK’s social media platforms circulated video material in which individuals, physically present in the UK, openly called 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,” the letter said.
The correspondence also highlighted that the messaging was deliberately amplified to audiences inside Pakistan, with the intent to provoke unrest, street violence, and confrontation with state institutions. PTI-linked platforms operating from the UK have repeatedly encouraged disorder and violent mobilisation in Pakistan, effectively instigating internal violence while remaining beyond domestic accountability.
The FO underscored that such actions violate multiple international laws and represent a qualitative escalation in threats against 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,” the letter stated.
