In a letter sent Thursday to the Commonwealth Secretariat, the signatories expressed alarm over what they called an “extraordinary” delay in publishing the Commonwealth Observer Group’s (COG) final assessment. The report, finally released on September 30, 2025, flagged restrictions on political rights, interference by key institutions, and election-day communication blackouts that undermined transparency. For the Commonwealth, however, the affair raises difficult questions about its credibility as a guardian of democratic standards. “The foremost duty of the Commonwealth Secretariat in this matter is to uphold the democratic rights of the people of its member state,” the signatories wrote. “Instead, it has harmed accountability and denied millions of Pakistanis the opportunity to seek redress for violations of their democratic rights.”