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ISLAMABAD: 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.
PTI slams minister’s statement, says delays reek of govt’s ‘bad faith’
Mr Kasim and his older brother, Mr 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, 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 to 10 working days. It has now been 60 days.” She said the delay in the issuance of visas persisted, despite ministers publicly “promising that they [Mr Kasim and Mr Suleiman] could safely travel there to see their father after four years”.
“They [Mr Kasim and Mr 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,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, the PTI condemned the government’s refusal to allow Mr Khan’s sons to meet their father and the extraordinary delay in the issuance of their visas. The party said the details that were shared by Jemima were “not only deeply concerning, but also evidence that the government has failed to uphold basic human values and family rights”.
It regretted Mr Khan’s sons were not being allowed to contact their father, saying that such measures were against the principles of any civilised society.
Referring to Tarar’s remarks, the PTI said Mr Khan’s sons had applied for Nicop renewal some time ago, yet no decision or response had been given. “This silence and delay itself expose government’s bad faith,” it added.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026
