ISLAMABAD (MNN); Jemima Goldsmith, the former spouse of Imran Khan, on Monday made a direct appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allow their sons to travel to Pakistan and meet their jailed father.
In a message posted on X, Jemima said that her sons, Sulaiman Khan and Kasim Khan, had applied for Pakistani visas in January to visit their father, who is currently imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. She noted that according to the Pakistani consulate, online visa applications usually take seven to ten working days to process, but the applications have remained pending for about sixty days.
Jemima said the delay had occurred despite public assurances from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif that the two sons could safely travel to Pakistan to see their father after several years. She also said that Prime Minister’s spokesperson for foreign media Mosharraf Zaidi had given a similar commitment.
She further stated that her sons had not been allowed to speak with their father on the phone or communicate with him through letters. According to Jemima, they have not met Imran Khan since 2022, following the assassination attempt in which he was shot.
Appealing directly to the prime minister, Jemima urged the government to allow her sons to meet their father as soon as possible, particularly because his health was reportedly declining.
When contacted for a response, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that there were more pressing issues in the world at present.
Last month, Kasim Khan had alleged that the government was deliberately delaying the processing of his and his brother’s visas. Both brothers had earlier stated in December 2025 that they planned to travel to Pakistan in January after applying for visas.
However, media reports later claimed that the government was refusing to grant them visas. In July last year, Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik had warned that the government could deny entry to Imran Khan’s sons if they visited Pakistan and participated in protests or political activities.
The remarks came after Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan told reporters outside Adiala Jail that the two brothers might join a protest movement of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Barrister Aqeel Malik had clarified that the government had no objection to their entry into Pakistan as long as they did not take part in political demonstrations.
Earlier, in August 2025, Aleema Khan had explained that the two brothers had applied for National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis as well as visas to visit Pakistan. Her statement came after Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry questioned why they needed visas if they possessed identity cards for overseas Pakistanis.
Aleema said one brother had misplaced his identity card while the other could not locate his card, which is why they had applied for new identity cards along with visas.
Later in December 2025, Tallal Chaudhry stated that he had asked Aleema Khan to provide the visa application tracking numbers of Kasim and Sulaiman. He said that the government had not received those details and reiterated that visas could be issued within hours if proper applications were submitted.
He added that according to official records, Imran Khan’s sons had neither renewed their overseas identity cards nor submitted visa applications in the past two years. The minister said that if the tracking numbers were provided, the government would facilitate their visit to Pakistan.
