By Irum Saleem
LAHORE: Tensions are simmering between the ruling party and the opposition over former prime minister Imran Khan’s possible visit to Pakistan ahead of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s planned protest movement next month.
As the government is geared up to fail the PTI’s protest plan, Imran Khan’s ex-wife Jamiama Goldsmith says threats to her sons by the ruling party members “is not politics but a personal vendetta.”
Imran’s sister, Aleema Khan recently said the two brothers would come to Pakistan as part of an upcoming PTI protest movement.
رانا ثناءاللہ کی PM عمران خان کے صاحبزادوں سلیمان خان اور قاسم خان کو ان کی پاکستان آمد پر گرفتاری کی دھمکی ایک غنڈے کی گیدڑ بھبکی ہے۔ اس گھٹیا بیان پر قوم ہی نہیں پوری دنیا ان 47 نمبریوں پر تھو تھو کر رہی ہے۔
— Moonis Elahi (@MoonisElahi6) July 10, 2025
After PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah and Senator Irfan Saddiqui’s warning to Khan’s sons — Suleman, 28, and Kasim, 26, a cabinet member of the Maryam Nawaz Punjab government also made it clear on Thursday that they would be dealt strictly if they joined any “violent protest” in Pakistan.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari told a presser here 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.
یہ رانا ثنا اللہ اج گیدڑ بھپکیاں مار رہا ہے جب میرے قائد چوہری مونس الٰہی نے کہا تھا کہ رانا میں تیرا انتظار کر رہا ہوں پنجاب اسمبلی میں تو اس کی جرات نہ ہوئی یہ فیصل اباد سے نکل کر پنجاب اسمبلی پہنچ جائے
— Ch Ahmed Raza Kallu (@ChAhmedRazaKal1) July 10, 2025
She said Khan’s sons would not be allowed to create unrest in Pakistan. “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.
کب تک یہ خیر منائیں گے حالات بدلنے ہیں جو انکی حالت بنے گی پھر یہ توبہ کریں گے لیکن لوگ سنیں گے نہیں کیوں کہ یہ جو ظلم کر رہے ہیں انکی باری آنی ہے
— Malik Arslan Ali (@malik_arslan512) July 11, 2025
On the other hand, Jemima Goldsmith has accused the Pakistani government of preventing her children from speaking to their father and threatening to arrest them if they came to Pakistan.
“My children are not allowed to speak on the phone to their father Imran Khan. He has been in solitary confinement in prison for nearly 2 years,” Goldsmith said in a post on X on Thursday.
Dear @Jemima_Khan, I hope you're well. I'm concerned about Kasim and Sulaiman's visit to Pakistan given the current risks. Their love for their father is clear, but perhaps supporting from far might be safer and just as meaningful. I say this with care and full respect.Thank you. pic.twitter.com/qr5BcfiHy5
— Jemran (@forever_jemran) July 8, 2025
Jamiama further said: “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.”
Jamaima’s statement came after warning of PM’s adviser Rana Sanaullah that Imran Khan’s sons would be arrested if they joined any violent PTI protest in Pakistan.
When @Jemima_Khan speaks for Imran Khan – it matters !
— Jehanzeb Paracha (@JehanzebParacha) May 14, 2025
Look at the reach of her posts.
The numbers are only going to go up.
Her followers are based globally and include many influential figures.
Thank you Jemima for speaking for Khan and Pakistan.#رہا_کرو_کپتان pic.twitter.com/2TWQJG7syQ
PML-N’s Senator Irfan Siddiqui hinted that the government might not arrest them on arrival but the law would take its course if they joined 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 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”.
@Jemima_Khan
— fatima muhammad (@jemimafied) August 30, 2022
The Queen of pakistani people’s hearts 🦋❤️✨
We love you jemima
thank you for everything xx#jemima #jemimakhan pic.twitter.com/C5uInT16VU
Siddiqui further said: “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’.”
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.
“My father, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has now spent over 700 days in prison – held in solitary confinement. He 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 rule of law, democracy, and Pakistan,” Kasim said.
