Tarar assails Imran’s sisters for giving interviews to Indian media; Noreen Niazi slams PML-N over ‘double standards’

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday slammed the sisters of PTI founder Imran Khan for giving interviews to the Indian media while one of ex-premier’s sisters, Noreen Niazi, criticised the PML-N for having “double standards”.

Last week, Imran’s sisters had camped outside Adiala Jail, where the PTI founder is currently incarcerated, along with other PTI members after being denied a meeting. According to the PTI, Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when they were manhandled and “violently detained” by police.

After repeatedly being barred from meeting their brother, Noreen and another sister of Imran, Aleema Khan, gave separate interviews to the Indian media on the matter.

“These three sisters of Imran Ahmed Niazi sahib, on May 9 they were also present at the Core Commander’s House,” he said, but added that until now they had not been told not to “cry victimisation”.

“If you ask my legal opinion, their presence is proof … They were there on May 9, they brought groups there and it is visible in the cameras that all three are present there,” Tarar said.

“The drama being made today — there is a reason for that.”

He said that the foreign policy success after Marka-i- Haq was not being digested well by the PTI.

“In their era the economy had dipped; it is (now) moving towards an economy of stability. They are not able to digest this.”

“Why are these sisters going on Indian channels and Afghanistan’s channels and crying for their brother?” Tarar stressed. “In the interview that Noreen Khan Niazi gave to an Indian channel, did she say that she condemns Modi? Those innocent children that were martyred, did she talk about Irtaza Abbas? Did she talk about those citizens that were martyred in Muridke and Bahawalpur? Did she talk about those soldiers and young officers who were martyred? Did she pay tribute to them?”

He slammed the sisters’ actions, saying:

“Those who go on Indian channels and defame Pakistan should be ashamed of themselves.”

He added that Indian channels were providing their platform because they knew that “this family, and this party’s mindset is against Pakistan”.

He further slammed Noreen for not condemning the Hindutva ideology on the Indian channel, the cruelty against Muslims in India, or talking about the issue of India-occupied Kashmir.

“Shame on you!” the minister said with emphasis. “That you go on Indian channels and don’t talk about occupied Kashmir, Marka-i-Haq, martyrs, and you go and cry about victimisation about a prisoner who is involved in a corruption case?”

He said that the family was building “hype” in foreign media about the danger to Imran’s health, saying, “Let me assure you: he’s hale and hearty. There’s no issue. He runs every day on a treadmill for an hour.

“This kind of privileged prisoner — this kind of VVIP prisoner who enjoys five-star hotel facilities — you will not find anywhere in the world,” he said.

He added, “If only, Noreen Khan sahiba, you had gone there and talked about your martyred, about that child Irtiza Abbas. About the victory in Marka-i-Haq … if only you had paid tribute to your prime minister and chief of army staff, and condemned Modi … but for you, politics is important, defaming Pakistan is important, and personal matters are important.”

Noreen Niazi rebukes PML-N

Meanwhile, Noreen Khan criticised the ruling party, PML-N, for what she called “double standards”.

“PML-N’s double standards are staggering. They attack me for giving an interview to Indian media, yet Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, has himself used Indian platforms to malign Pakistan’s own military leadership,” she alleged, adding that today, “he and his family sit comfortably in power on the back of a blatantly manipulated mandate”.

“His brother, his daughter, and his party enjoy the perks of authority while lecturing others on ‘principles’.”

She further alleged that “elements aligned with this same power structure shamelessly doctored portions of my interview using AI, a deliberate attempt to distort my words and mislead public opinion.

“These are the same actors who have kept Imran Khan in unlawful, inhumane isolation for four weeks cut off from family, lawyers, and basic rights,” she continued her accusation, adding: “I have never held public office. My only purpose in speaking publicly is to expose the injustice of my brother’s imprisonment and to urge the human rights organisations and judiciary to recognise the systematic denial of his legal, political, and humanitarian rights.”

‘Political-terror-crime nexus’

Tarar also accused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and his team of having “ties with enemies of the state”, saying it was now “out in the open”.

“Over 4,000 cases have been registered regarding the infiltration of terrorists, who are sheltered [in KP’s] areas, in three years. But, the rate of punishment is nonexistent,” he alleged. “This prosecution system is under the provincial government, which is supposed to bring in legal reforms and make it stronger.”

The minister said the KP government had been “unable to form a system to prosecute terrorists in its 12-and-a-half years in power”.

Continuing his accusations, he said: “The border is being guarded, but due to the weaknesses and failures of the district administration and provincial govt, infiltration has increased.”

Moreover, “there is a political-terror-crime nexus. The CM and his people are involved in drug trade in KP, they maintain close ties with drug lords”, Tarar alleged. “Within 12-and-a-half years, whose responsibility was it to stop drug money being used to finance terrorism?”

He claimed that the KP government’s performance was “negligible because of the political-terror-crime nexus”, under which “drug smuggling is promoted and drug money is used”.

“They (KP government) don’t punish terrorists, and of the over 10,000 cases of drug trafficking from January-August 2025, only 679 cases have been decided,” Tarar added.

“If the KP government knows of such a large drug cartel operating in its territory and cannot take action against it, that means there is a political-terror-crime nexus,” he reiterated the accusation.

Tarar further alleged that “terrorists attack state institutions but not those involved in KP’s drug trade, because doing so, they’d lose their source of financing”.