Former Pakistan prime minister’s sons Sulaiman and Kasim Khan recently garnered attention after featuring in an interview with former England cricketer Michael Atherton on Wednesday. The interview was broadcast by Sky Sports during the lunch break of the second Test match at Lord’s despite the Pakistan Cricket Board’s reservations.
In the interview, they claimed that the Pakistan government is actively trying to isolate and "kill their father". The former Pakistani cricketer has been imprisoned for over three years on corruption charges, which were alleged to be politically motivated.
Kasim claimed that the government was purposely isolating his father, adding that he spends 23 hours a day alone in a cell.
“The last time he was able to speak to our aunties and anyone else, he said the conditions have severely worsened recently. He has been relating it to other political prisoners who have been killed or who have died in prison. Right now, it is worse than ever, completely isolating him for more than 23 hours a day in a cell," Kasim said in the interview.
Kasim said that phone calls with him are sometimes as short as six minutes and that they were unable to visit him because of visa rejections.
“We tried to visit him. But the visas we applied for were blocked for technical reasons at one point. They’re stalled in others.”
Adding to the concerns, Khan’s other son Sulaiman noted that no family member has seen his father for the past 10 months despite the court’s order for family visits every week.
“The only thing we’ve heard over the last 10 months, because no one’s been able to see him, is the fears about his eyes. But now we’ve heard that he’s got rising blood pressure due to the stress of isolation and solitary confinement,” he said.
Because of his deteriorating health, the most significant relief Khan received was a recent Supreme Court order directing the cricket-turned-politician to be taken to a specific private hospital. However, he was taken to a different government medical facility.
“We were cautiously optimistic. Our fears were confirmed when, instead of being taken to the private hospital, where he was meant to be taken, he was just taken to a government medical facility for a few hours, and then taken straight back to jail," said Sulaiman.
Following the release of the interview, the PCB has reported registered a complaint with Sky Sports. The Pakistan team also had to be persuaded by the ECB to play a post-lunch session on Day 1.
