The sons of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan are awaiting approval from the interior ministry before they can visit the country, according to his sister, Aleema Khan.
Aleema, who had previously announced plans for her nephews’ visit, revealed in a post on X on Friday, saying: “A few days ago, Suleiman [Khan] and Kasim [Khan] applied for their visas with the Pakistan High Commission in London.”
“The ambassador has intimated that he is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad,” she added.
The revelation prompted a swift response from Minister of State Talal Chaudhry, who questioned Aleema’s earlier claims that Imran’s children held National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) — and if so, why would they need visas?
“You previously stated that the children hold NICOPs. If that is true, they do not require visas to enter Pakistan,” Chaudhry said in a post on X.
“If they do need visas, that means they are not ‘Pakistani Nationals’. What is the real truth behind it all?” he asked.
This latest twist follows recent reports, which were swiftly denied by PTI, suggesting that Imran had barred his sons, who reside in the United Kingdom, from travelling to Pakistan and engaging in any political activities.
However, soon after such reports surfaced, the party rubbished them, stating that there’s no doubt that Suleman (28) and Kasim (26) would visit Pakistan for their father.
The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was booked in multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism since his ouster from power via the opposition’s no-trust motion in April 2022.
PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram, in his statements, said that their arrival date hasn’t been determined, but there’s “no doubt” that they are coming.
The former prime minister’s sons were previously in the United States meeting the country’s lawmakers, reportedly to lobby for their father’s release, ahead of their expected visit to Pakistan before the August 5 protest.
Kasim called attention to their father’s imprisonment for the first time publicly in May. Talking to X in June, he expressed concern over Imran’s condition in jail.
He wrote: “My father, former prime minister Imran Khan, has now spent over 700 days in prison — held in solitary confinement. He 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 stands for rule of law, democracy and Pakistan.”
