Let Imran’s sons see him as soon as possible: Jemima appeals to PM Shehbaz

Jemima Goldsmith, the former spouse of PTI founder Imran Khan, made a “direct appeal” to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday to allow her sons, Kasim Khan and Suleiman Khan, to meet their incarcerated father. Kasim and his older brother Suleiman live in London with their mother and will have to travel to Pakistan to meet Imran, who is imprisoned at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Jemima said in a post on X: “My sons Sulaiman and Kasim Khan applied for visas in January (again… ) to allow them to visit their father, Imran Khan, in Pakistan. The Pakistan consulate states that online visa processing normally takes 7–10 working days. It has now been 60 days.”

She said the delay in the issuance of visas was despite Defence Minister Khawaja Asif publicly “promising that they (Kasim and Suleiman) could safely travel there to see their father after four years”. She added that PM’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, had made a similar commitment. “Meanwhile, they (Kasim and Suleiman) are not allowed to speak to him (Imran) on the phone, nor send him a letter. They haven’t seen him since 2022, after he was shot in an assassination attempt. “This is an appeal directly to Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz to please allow Imran Khan’s two sons to see their father asap, particularly since, by all accounts, his health is in decline,” Jemima appealed. When Dawn approached government representatives for a comment on the matter, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar replied: “There are more important issues in the world now.” Last month, Kasim had alleged that the government was “deliberately” refusing to process his and his brother’s visas. Kasim and Suleiman had said in December 2025 that the two had applied for their visas and were planning a trip to Pakistan in January. However, reports emerged last month, alleging that the government was refusing to grant Imran’s sons visas. Last year in July, Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik had warned that the government could deny entry to Imran’s sons if they travelled to Pakistan and “spread discord”. It was after Imran’s sister, Aleema Khan, told reporters a day ago outside Adiala Jail that the two would join a PTI protest movement. Malik said the government had no issue with Kasim and Suleiman entering Pakistan, provided they did not engage in protests or political activity. In August 2025, Aleema had also clarified that Imran’s sons had applied for National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicops) as well as visas to visit Pakistan after Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry had questioned why they would need visas if they had the Nicop. She had said: “The Nicop of one [of the brothers] is missing and the other can’t find his card so they’ve submitted two applications: one to issue their Nicop, which is valid for the next six to seven years … and they have also applied for the visa which can be issued within an hour. “It’s their choice. They have Nicop, they have British passports. So what issue do they (the interior ministry) have in issuing a visa?” Later in December 2025, Chaudhry had claimed he had asked Aleema to share Kasim and Suleiman’s tracking numbers. “Till today, I have not received tracking numbers … we are very clear that anyone who wants to come to Pakistan, we will issue them visas within a few hours,” he said. He noted that for over two years now, Imran‘s sons “have not renewed their Nicops and they have not applied for visas as per our records“. “If they have, give us the tracking number, and I assure you that they can come to Pakistan,“ the minister said.