Just as Shebaz Sharif’s government prepared to block Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party’s “Imran Khan freedom movement” protest plan, Jemima Goldsmith, 72-year-old ex-cricketer, says that the threat to her sons by members of the ruling party is “not a politician.”
Khan’s sister Aleema Khan recently said that his brother’s sons Suleman and Kasim will be coming to Pakistan as some of the PTI protests begin on August 5th.
Cabinet members of Mariam Nawaz-led Punjab government on Friday revealed that if Khan’s sons visit Pakistan and participate in “violent protests” here, they will be dealt with strictly.
Punjab Information Minister and PML-N leader Azma Bokali said the sons of PTI patron Imran Khan were not allowed to create uncertainty in the country.
“Why didn’t Khan’s sons visit Pakistan when they were injured? Now all of a sudden they’re missing Pakistan,” she asked. “Jemima reportedly banned his sons from visiting Pakistan. However, the daughter has all the rights to meet her father. Instigators are not allowed to use their children to spread anxiety,” she warned. She said in X’s post Thursday.
“The Pakistani government now says that if they try to see him they will be arrested and placed behind the bar. This will not happen in democracy or functional state. This is not politics. It is a personal revenge,” Jemima further said.
Jemima’s statement came after warning Rana Sanaura, the prime minister’s adviser, that Khan’s sons would be arrested if they joined the violent PTI protests in Pakistan.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi said Khan’s children are not beyond the scope of the law and that if they try to put the law into their own hands they will face legal consequences like other citizens.
Irfan Siddiki, Sen. Nawaz, Pakistan’s Muslim League, suggested that while the government may not arrest them on arrival, they would take the law if they joined the PTI protests.
“In my personal opinion, Suleman and Kasim should be allowed to come, as the government has not taken an official stance so far. They should come and do their activities,” he said.
He told the private news channel that as Khan’s sons spent their entire lives abroad, he “knows well what the protest is, how it is staged, and what the boundary that we cannot cross.”
“In my opinion, Khan’s sons should not be taken away from this right. If they want to run the move for their father, they should. But if they come here and beyond the limits of the law, they also know that if they are fighting the law, the law will take that course,” Siddiki further said.
Kasim recently posted to X about his father being “completely blocked” from his son. He is not addressing the issue of participating in Pakistani politics.
“He (Imran Khan) is denied access to his lawyer, not allowed to visit from his family, is cut off completely from us (his children), even his personal doctor is denied. This is not justice. It is a deliberate attempt to break isolated and broken for the rule of law, democracy, Pakistan,” Kasim said.
