Between attending jail courts and conducting cell visits, Aleema Khan, sister of the imprisoned Pakistani former Prime Minister Imran Khan, makes time to join Zeteo in a town hall for paid subscribers, who flooded the chat with their questions.
When will her brother be released? Is his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), fracturing? And most importantly, how is he in prison?
“Stronger,” Aleema says of her brother’s condition, “sometimes you look at him and I think he's moved further up in his belief or maybe in the Sufism, or the mysticism, because he can now see much farther, I think, than he did earlier.”
Beyond the Zoom chat, plenty of questions surround the government-disputed casualty numbers from the protests that rocked the country’s capital of Islamabad in late November demanding the release of Imran Khan.
“It was not justified to shoot your own people. It was a massacre,” she emphasizes, adding that the “idiots” in government cannot dispute what people not only saw with their own eyes, but filmed with their cameras as well.
“The problem with the government and with everybody is they're so outdated. The times have changed, this is a new generation, this is a new time… Everybody carries a phone. So the evidence is in thousands of videos and pictures and statements from people. They were the ones who were injured, there are videos of people dying live on camera.”
Mehdi asks whether 2025 could be the year where she sees her brother free once again.
“I think so, because they've [the government] run out of all cases. It's looking really bad now. They're becoming a laughing stock… It's not sustainable. It's as simple as that. Tyranny is not sustainable.”
If you are a paid subscriber, watch the full Zoom town hall above to hear Aleema respond to multiple questions, including whether Khan’s party, PTI, is fracturing, and whether she believes incoming US President Donald Trump can play a role in her brother’s release.
Free subscribers can watch the first seven minutes of this town hall. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full, timely conversation and to participate in the next Q&A!
For more on Zeteo’s coverage of Pakistan: