As the Shehbaz Sharif government geared up to foil the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s “Imran Khan Free Movement” protest plan, the 72-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician’s ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith says threats to her sons by the ruling party members “is not politics but a personal vendetta.”
Khan’s sister Aleema Khan recently said his brother’s sons — Suleman and Kasim — would come to Pakistan as part of the PTI protest movement going to be kicked off on August 5.
A cabinet member of the Maryam Nawaz-led Punjab government made it clear on Friday that Khan’s sons would be dealt with strictly if they visit Pakistan to join any “violent protest” here.
Punjab Information Minister and PML-N leader Azma Bokhari said that PTI patron-in-chief Imran Khan’s sons would not be allowed to create unrest in the country.
“Why did not Khan’s sons visit Pakistan when he was injured? Now suddenly, they are missing Pakistan,” she questioned. “Jemima has reportedly barred her sons from visiting Pakistan. However, a daughter has every right to meet her father. The instigators will not be allowed to use children to spread unrest,” she warned.On the other hand, Jemima has accused the Pakistani government of preventing her children from speaking to their father and threatening to arrest them if they visit Pakistan.“My children are not allowed to speak on the phone to their father. He has been in solitary confinement in prison for nearly 2 years,” she said in a post on X on Thursday.
“Pakistan’s government has now said if they go there to try to see him, they too will be arrested and put behind bars. This doesn’t happen in a democracy or a functioning state. This isn’t politics. It’s a personal vendetta,” Jemima further said.
Jemima’s statement came after warning of PM’s adviser Rana Sanaullah that Khan’s sons would be arrested if they joined any violent PTI protest in Pakistan.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said that Khan’s children are not beyond the reach of the law, and if they attempt to take the law into their own hands, they will face legal consequences like any other citizen.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Senator Irfan Siddiqui hinted that the government might not arrest them on arrival but the law would take its course if they join the protest movement of the PTI.
“In my personal opinion as the government has so far not taken any official stance, Suleman and Kasim should be allowed to come. They should come and carry out their activities,” he said.
He told a private news channel that Khan’s sons had spent their entire lives abroad, so they would be “well-aware of what a protest is, how it is staged, and what the boundaries are that we cannot cross”.
“In my opinion, Khan’s sons should not be deprived of this right. If they want to run a movement for their father, then they should. However, if they come here and cross the limitations of laws they will also come prepared for that, knowing that if we are fighting the laws, then the law will take its course,” Siddiqui further said.
Kasim recently posted on X about his father being “fully cut off” from the sons. He has not addressed the matter of joining Pakistan’s politics.
“He (Imran Khan) is denied access to his lawyers, not allowed visits from his family, fully cut off from us (his children), and even his personal doctor is refused entry. This is not justice. It is a deliberate attempt to isolate and break a man who stood for the rule of law, democracy, and Pakistan,” Kasim said.
