Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday speculated that the PTI was “looking for options to move Imran into exile with the help of a foreign country” without naming which country he was referring to.

Multiple people outside the country have commented on Imran’s incarceration in Adiala for more than a year.

Kim Johnson, the MP for UK’s Liverpool Riverside, along with several other MPs, wrote a letter to cabinet minister David Lammy, arguing that Imran’s detention had “no legal basis” and was intended to prevent his participation in political office.

Similarly, more than 60 members of the US House of Representatives wrote to President Joe Biden on October 24, calling for the release of political prisoners in Pakistan, including Imran.

Amnesty International — on the former premier’s incarceration — said it has found several fair trial violations under international human rights standards which have resulted in his arbitrary detention.

In October, two billionaire businessmen posted in support of Khan. Their concerns came days after his former wife Jemima Goldsmith made an impassioned plea for the PTI founder’s release, and urged authorities to let him contact his sons.

In an interview with Hum News show “Faisla Aap Ka” with Asma Sherazi on Tuesday, the defense minister said, “[The PTI] was trying options to get foreign countries to influence Pakistan and release Imran.”

He added that those countries — without naming which ones was he referring to — “were also ready to receive him”.

Members of the ruling coalition in September also attacked the PTI founder for his alleged links with the “Zionist lobby”, after an article published by an Israeli media outlet alluded to the potential role of Imran in the normalisation of ties with Israel.

A government spokesperson in July warned overseas Pakistanis that the government would clamp down against them if they promoted an “anti-state agenda”.

Meanwhile, the federal government’s spokesperson on legal affairs Barrister Aqeel Malik claimed in June that PTI was “misusing” the Pakistani diaspora, who have a strong affiliation with the party, for its “clandestine motives”.

According to a retaliatory statement issued by the PTI today, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Adviser Barrister Saif criticised Asif for his statement.

“The Sharif family is the one which makes deals and runs abroad whenever the noose is tightened around them,” he said.

He ruled out any possibility of Khan’s release from jail and said that the latter would have moved to foreign shores if he had to, instead, he preferred to stay in Pakistan.