Dr. Akhtar Gulfam Editor-in-Chief, Daily Dawn, Director News Dawn TV
London: Qasim Khan, the son of jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, fears that authorities are hiding ‘something irreparable’ about his father’s condition.
The statement comes at a time when PTI and Imran Khan’s sisters are protesting and staging sit-ins outside Adiala Jail, where he is being held, as they have not been allowed to meet him for the past three weeks.
Despite a court order, visits have been halted, and rumors of a possible jail transfer are circulating, with Qasim telling Reuters that the family has neither direct nor verifiable contact with the former prime minister, even though the court has allowed weekly visits.
“Not knowing whether your father is safe, injured, or even alive is a form of mental torture,” he said in a written statement, adding that there has been no independently verified contact for the past few months.
“Today we have no verifiable information about his condition. Our greatest fear is that something irreparable is being hidden from us,” he said.
The family has repeatedly sought permission for Imran’s personal physician, but he has not been allowed to examine Imran for more than a year.
Imran Khan, 72, has been in prison since August 2023, convicted in multiple cases that he describes as politically motivated after his 2022 no-confidence vote.
His first conviction was in the Toshakhana case, in which he was accused of illegally selling government gifts, with subsequent verdicts giving longer sentences, including 10 years in prison in the Cypher case and 14 years in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The PTI claims that the cases were aimed at keeping Imran Khan out of public and electoral politics, with elections due in 2024.
The family’s anxiety has increased due to the lack of information, with the family saying that the continued lack of contact has raised concerns that Imran is being deliberately kept out of the public eye.
Qasim Khan said that “this isolation is deliberate”, adding that the authorities are keeping Imran Khan completely cut off.
“They are afraid of him; he is the most popular leader in Pakistan, and the authorities know that they cannot defeat him democratically,” he said.
Qasim Khan and his elder brother Suleman Isa Khan, who live in London with their mother Jemima Goldsmith, have stayed away from Pakistani politics.
Qasim said the last time he saw his father was in November 2022, when he came to Pakistan after Imran Khan survived an assassination attempt.
“That scene is still etched in my mind, you can’t forget seeing your father in that state,” he said.
“We were told that he would get better with time, but now, after weeks of complete silence and no sign of life, that memory has a different meaning,” he said.
He said the family is pursuing all internal and external avenues, including approaching international human rights organizations, and they want the visitation to be restored immediately as per the court order.
Qasim Khan said, “This is not just a political dispute; this is a human rights issue. Pressure should come from all directions; we get strength from them, but we need to know that they are safe.”
Meanwhile, Jemima Goldsmith has reacted to Defense Minister Khawaja Asif’s interview with Zeitu’s Mehdi Hassan, in which the Defense Minister had said that Imran’s sons could meet him.
Jemima Goldsmith said, “They are not even allowed to talk on the phone, not to anyone.”
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