Imran Khan's sons to be dealt with strictly if they join protest in Pak: PML-N

Tensions are simmering between the government and the opposition after ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders on Friday warned that former Prime Minister Imran Khan's sons would be dealt with strictly if they visited Pakistan to join any "violent protest" organised by the jailed former Pakistan cricket team captain's party.

As the Shehbaz Sharif government geared up to foil Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's 'Free Imran Khan Movement' protest plan, the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician's ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith Khan said threats to her sons by ruling party members “is not politics but a personal vendetta".

Khan's sister Aleema Khan recently said her nephews Suleman and Kasim would come to Pakistan as part of the PTI protest movement scheduled for kick-off on 5 August.

A cabinet member of the Maryam Nawaz-led Punjab government made it clear on Friday that Khan's sons would be dealt with strictly if they visited Pakistan to join any “violent protest” here. Punjab information minister and PML-N leader Azma Bokhari said PTI patron-in-chief Imran Khan’s sons would not be allowed to create unrest in the country.

"Why did Khan’s sons not visit Pakistan when he was injured? Now suddenly, they are missing Pakistan,” she questioned. “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.

On the other hand, Jemima has accused the Pakistani government of preventing her children from speaking to their father and threatening to arrest them if they visit Pakistan. “My children are not allowed to speak on the phone to their father. He has been in solitary confinement in prison for nearly 2 years,” she said in a post on X on Thursday.

“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,” Jemima said.

Jemima's statement came after a warning by the PM’s adviser Rana Sanaullah that Khan’s sons would be arrested if they joined any violent PTI protest in Pakistan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said Khan's children are not beyond reach of the law, and if they attempt to take the law into their own hands, will face legal consequences like any other citizen.

PML-N 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 said.

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”.

“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,” Siddiqui further said.

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.

"He (Imran Khan) 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 the rule of law, democracy, and Pakistan,” Kasim said.