I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2311
To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to certain foreign
persons who have knowingly engaged in the wrongful persecution and
imprisonment of political opponents in Pakistan, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH24, 2025
Mr. W
ILSONof South Carolina (for himself and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to
certain foreign persons who have knowingly engaged in
the wrongful persecution and imprisonment of political
opponents in Pakistan, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pakistan Democracy 4
Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 1
It is the policy of the United States to support a 2
democratic Pakistan, including free and fair elections, that 3
is based upon civilian rule, restoration of judicial inde-4
pendence, rule of law, human rights, and due process of 5
law for all of the people of Pakistan. 6
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION REGARDING GENERAL ASIM 7
MUNIR. 8
(a) S
ANCTIONS.—Not later than 180 days after the 9
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 10
acting in conjunction with the Secretary of the Treasury, 11
shall impose sanctions on General Asim Munir, Chief of 12
Army Staff of Pakistan, the Global Magnitsky Human 13
Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.). 14
(b) W
AIVER.—The President may waive subsection 15
(a) if the President certifies to the House Committee on 16
Foreign Affairs, and the Senate Committee on Foreign 17
Relations that— 18
(1) military rule has ended in Pakistan and rule 19
of law and civilian-led democracy has been restored; 20
and 21
(2) all wrongfully detained political detainees 22
have been released from detention. 23
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SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF SANCTIONS. 1
(a) I
NADMISSIBILITY OF OFFICIALS ANDINDIVID-2
UALSINVOLVED IN THE WRONGFULPERSECUTION AND 3
I
MPRISONMENT OF IMRANKHAN.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 5
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 6
President shall identify key individuals who are 7
knowingly engaged the wrongful persecution and im-8
prisonment of political detainees in Pakistan includ-9
ing but not limited to former Prime Minister Imran 10
Khan or significantly undermined democracy and 11
furthered military rule for the people of Pakistan in-12
cluding— 13
(A) such individuals who have served as a 14
member of the Government or military of Paki-15
stan; and 16
(B) such individuals who are serving as an 17
official in a leadership position working on be-18
half of the Government or military of Pakistan, 19
including law enforcement, intelligence, judicial, 20
or local or municipal government. 21
(2) I
NELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, OR 22
PAROLE.— 23
(A) V
ISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 24
alien with respect to which the President has 25
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made an affirmative decision under paragraph 1
(1) shall be— 2
(i) inadmissible to the United States; 3
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 4
documentation to enter the United States; 5
and 6
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 7
or paroled into the United States or to re-8
ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-9
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 10
16 seq.). 11
(B) C
URRENT VISAS REVOKED .— 12
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The visa or other 13
entry documentation of any alien described 14
in paragraph (1) is subject to revocation 15
regardless of the issue date of the visa or 16
other entry documentation. 17
(ii) I
MMEDIATE EFFECT .—A revoca-18
tion under subclause (I) shall, in accord-19
ance with section 221(i) of the Immigra-20
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 21
1201(i)) take effect immediately, and can-22
cel any other valid visa or entry docu-23
mentation that is in the possession of the 24
alien. 25
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(3) BRIEFING.—Not later than 90 days after 1
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 2
of State shall brief the appropriate committees of 3
Congress with respect to— 4
(A) any foreign person with respect to 5
which the President has made an affirmative 6
determination under paragraph (1); and 7
(B) the specific facts that justify each such 8
affirmative determination. 9
(4) W
AIVER.—The President may waive imposi-10
tion of sanctions under this subsection on a case-by- 11
case basis if the President determines and certifies 12
to the appropriate committees of Congress that— 13
(A) such waiver would serve national inter-14
ests; or 15
(B) the circumstances which caused the in-16
dividual to be ineligible have sufficiently 17
changed. 18
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
(1) A
DMISSION; ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms 20
‘‘admission’’, ‘‘admitted’’, and ‘‘alien’’ have the 21
meanings given such terms in section 101 of the Im-22
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 23
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(2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -1
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-2
gress’’ means— 3
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 4
Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com-5
mittee on Financial Services of the House of 6
Representatives; and 7
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 8
the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Com-9
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 10
of the Senate. 11
(3) F
OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-12
son’’ means any individual that is not a United 13
States person. 14
(4) I
MMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS .—The term 15
‘‘immediate family members’’ has the meaning given 16
the term ‘‘immediate relatives’’ in section 17
1151(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality 18
Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)). 19
(5) K
NOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 20
respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 21
means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 22
have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 23
result. 24
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(6) UNITED STATES PERSON .—The term 1
‘‘United States person’’ means— 2
(A) a United States citizen or an alien law-3
fully admitted for permanent residence to the 4
United States; or 5
(B) any person within the United States. 6
Æ
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