“We've never been political or spoken publicly about virtually anything. The situation right now is so desperate that we have to.”
- Kasim Khan, son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
It has been over two years since former Prime Minister Imran Khan was detained by the Pakistani government under a flurry of widely disputed charges ranging from corruption to sharing state secrets – and no release date on the horizon. With his conditions in jail only worsening, and with the UN special rapporteur on torture recently calling his confinement “inhumane” and “unlawful”, his two sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan join Mehdi on set in London to advocate for his immediate release.
“They’re not even allowing guards to speak to him because they want total isolation from any other person just to try and break him,” Kasim tells Mehdi, adding that the last time he talked to his father was during a six-minute call from prison three months ago, and the last time either of them have seen him in person was three years ago. “It’s very hard to just carry on with your normal life,” he adds, saying his father is being subjected to torture in “solitary confinement,” in “a 6’8” cell, so barely enough to kind of stand.”
In a wide-ranging and very personal interview, the two brothers open up to Mehdi about several topics related to Imran Khan’s detention:
The role they hoped Donald Trump would play but didn’t, saying they are “disheartened” by his budding relationship with Pakistani military chief Asim Munir.
How the Pakistani government has ended their court-mandated calls to their imprisoned father without “any official reason.”
How the UK government told them they “won’t have any kind of protection” if they go to Pakistan.
Claims from a Pakistani government spokesperson that their father is being treated like a “prince.”
Criticisms from Pakistani journalists, as well as Khan’s second wife, that he has a “God complex.”
The controversial role and influence of Khan’s current wife, Bushra Bibi.
Whether Khan would become a “martyr” if he were executed by the Pakistani military.
Their childhood memories of their father, prior to his political career, and their own current passion for cricket.
The Pakistani prime minister’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, issued the following statements to Zeteo in response to the Khan brothers’ interview with Mehdi.
“He does not spend any time at all in a ‘cell.’ As a prisoner whose security and well being is a priority for the state, he has designated living quarters. He has his own gym facilities, his own outdoors lawn, and his own space for walking and his own space for books and reading. There is no prisoner that has been afforded the kind of space and leeway Khan has enjoyed. His supporters and innocent children have been misled by disinformation… He spends at least six hours a day outside the area where he sleeps. He has a cook exclusively assigned to him, and a medical officer in the prison checks every meal he eats.”
Zaidi also said Khan’s children “will be treated with the rights and privileges due to all visitors to Pakistan—as per their status under the law…. We hope the children have a chance to meet their father—but it is almost certain that the father and his political workers will try to exploit any visit by the children as a political event. In that scenario, the local authorities will take whatever measures they need to take to disperse crowds and to ensure that political activity does not create the space for lawlessness and disorder.”
Paid subscribers can watch the full 35-minute interview with Kasim and Sulaiman Khan above. Free subscribers can watch a 4-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo to gain full access to this interview and a lot more like it.
In case you missed it, here is some of Zeteo’s previous coverage on Pakistan:
