Incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sons, Kasim and Suleman, have voiced fears of never being able to see their father again in an interview with Sky News, urging the international community to ensure the protection of his rights.
Speaking with Sky News anchor Yalda Hakim from their home in London, Khan’s sons admitted it was “very hard to see a way out” for their father amidst prevailing conditions. Describing the situation as “getting worse” with advisers appearing less and less confident of his father’s release, Kasim said they were “now worried we’ll never see him again.”
Suleman, however, said “international pressure” was an effective way of forcing change. He said the “minimum” they expected of the international community was for the international standards of human rights to be upheld.
To a question on the government defending restrictions on Khan with his convictions and ongoing corruption cases, Kasim claimed the Government of Pakistan “is all crooks.” He also claimed his father’s detention was “different” from the incarceration of other Pakistani politicians, alleging Khan was being “tortured” and kept in “solitary confinement.” To a question, they both claimed the establishment was “afraid” of Khan’s popularity.
January visit
The two sons, who had earlier announced an intent to visit Pakistan in August, said they had applied for their visas to Pakistan and were planning to travel to the country in January. Hakim noted they had previously claimed of “being warned not to come,” though Defense Minister Khawaja Asif had since said they “were welcome to come” and visit their father.
“We are now planning to because they said it openly,” said Kasim. “So—unless they go against their word—we should be hopefully going in January. We have applied for our visas,” he said, adding that they were expecting the visas to come by January.
Hakim then asked them what they would discuss with Khan upon seeing him, including whether they could ask him to consider “cutting a deal” to secure his freedom. Kasim said it was his father’s “passion and his goal” to help rid Pakistan of corruption. “And so if he just took a deal and came over to us and lived in England, I know there would be this burning desire and this aching that he has left his country for dead. And he would be depressed to be honest. I know he would,” he said, adding you can “only respect it” regardless of personal desires.
To a question on the alleged conditions in which Khan is being kept in jail, Kasim reiterated the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s concerns of the conditions being “awful.” They said the cell their father was detained in had been described as a “death cell,” alleging the electricity was sometimes cut off and water was “dirty.”
Hakim also asked them about the rumors of their father’s possible death when he was denied meetings with family last month, with Suleman describing the experience as “incredibly stressful.” He said they had sought information from their family, with Kasim noting it “obviously” pulled them out of their normal routine. “Especially how helpless we are over here, not able to do much at all,” he added.
On the meeting with Khan of one of his sisters, Uzma, the sons said she had assured them their father was well but was angry over the conditions of his incarceration. “And he put out—he dictated a tweet I think through her, or maybe potentially through her. And I think that tweet has partly led to this reaction from the establishment to completely try and isolate him,” claimed Suleman.
“I want to know how we can get him out, how we can help because the main point is we feel so helpless at this point,” emphasized Kasim, maintaining they were planning on visiting Brussels or Geneva in January to meet politicians and push for ensuring the rights of their father.
Disinformation
Responding to Kasim and Suleman’s allegations on behalf of the government, Prime Minister’s Spokesperson for Foreign Media Mosharraf Zaidi maintained Khan had conducted hundreds of meetings with family, lawyers and friends during his incarceration. He argued that Prison Rules did not permit political discussions, emphasizing that Khan’s posts on Twitter proved he was violating this law.
He alleged that the U.N. and rights bodies, as well as journalists like Hakim, were falling prey to disinformation about Khan’s detention. He said his past tweets criticizing Khan’s detention were negated by recent developments, including Pakistan’s conflicts with Iran, Afghanistan, India, boosting security threats to the country.
“The whole purpose of once you’re a convicted criminal is that you’re in jail and you lose your freedom,” he said, as Hakim questioned if she would be allowed to interview Khan if she came to Pakistan, maintaining that would be a violation of the Prison Rules.