Lahore, Feb 5: The sons of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan have accused the Shehbaz Sharif government of “deliberately” refusing visas to prevent them from visiting their father, describing the country’s democracy as “hollow” and alleging that basic human rights are being “crushed.”
Suleman Khan and Kasim Khan, residing in London and sons of Khan from his first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, said they have been blocked from traveling to Pakistan to meet their father, who has been in solitary confinement for over 900 days at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.
“Now the government is deliberately refusing to process our visas. Denying a prisoner treatment is cruel. Denying his children the right to see him is collective punishment,” Kasim Khan said in a post on X on Wednesday.
The family claims that Imran Khan’s health has deteriorated in confinement. Reports indicate he has been diagnosed with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), a serious eye condition that can cause permanent vision loss if not treated promptly.
Kasim Khan added that his father has had no access to personal doctors and has been confined to what he called a “death cell” with no family visits for nearly three years. “Authorities continue to block his treatment and deny him the doctors he trusts. This is not governance. This is authoritarian cruelty,” he said, urging international human rights organisations to intervene.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, however, said on January 29 that Imran Khan underwent a medical procedure for an eye ailment recently and is currently in “good health.” The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Khan’s party, has maintained that delays in proper treatment could result in irreversible damage to his eyesight.
The controversy has intensified calls from Khan’s family and supporters for international attention to his health and the restrictions on family access, framing it as a human rights and governance issue in Pakistan.