Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the children of incarcerated former premier Imran Khan were “welcome” to visit Pakistan on their National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop).

He made the remarks on X, in response to a post by Imran’s former spouse, Jemima Goldsmith, who had appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding the delay in issuing visas to his sons, Kasim and Sulaiman.

“Imran Khan’s phone call will be arranged on Eid day with his children as done in the past as well,” the information minister said.

“His children are welcome to visit Pakistan on their Nicop cards as Pakistani citizens for which no visa is required. However, they will fully comply with the laws of Pakistan during their stay,” he said.

Kasim and his older brother Suleiman live in London with their mother and will have to travel to Pakistan to meet Imran, who is imprisoned at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.

In her appeal to PM Shehbaz on Monday, Jemima had stated, “My sons Sulaiman and Kasim Khan applied for visas in January (again… ) to allow them to visit their father, Imran Khan, in Pakistan. The Pakistan consulate states that online visa processing normally takes 7–10 working days. It has now been 60 days.”

She said the delay in the issuance of visas was despite Defence Minister Khawaja Asif publicly “promising that they (Kasim and Suleiman) could safely travel there to see their father after four years”. She added that PM’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, had made a similar commitment.

“Meanwhile, they (Kasim and Suleiman) are not allowed to speak to him (Imran) on the phone, nor send him a letter. They haven’t seen him since 2022, after he was shot in an assassination attempt.

“This is an appeal directly to Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz to please allow Imran Khan’s two sons to see their father asap, particularly since, by all accounts, his health is in decline,” Jemima appealed.

Last month, Kasim had alleged that the government was “deliberately” refusing to process his and his brother’s visas.

Kasim and Suleiman had said in December 2025 that the two had applied for their visas and were planning a trip to Pakistan in January. However, reports emerged last month, alleging that the government was refusing to grant Imran’s sons visas.

In August 2025, Imran’s sister Aleema had also clarified that Imran’s sons had applied for Nicops as well as visas to visit Pakistan after Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry had questioned why they would need visas if they had the Nicop.