Islamabad: Jemima Goldsmith, ex-wife of jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, on Wednesday called for his release, lifting a ban on his meetings with family and claimed that these were attempts “to silence them and all political opposition in Pakistan.”
Her allegations and the appeal came as a long post on X at a time when Pakistan is hosting the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Wednesday.
Khan, 72, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for over a year with multiple cases against him and conviction in some of them.
The government of Punjab province – where the jail is – on October 7 banned Khan from meeting his family members, lawyers and party leaders till October 18, citing “security concerns”.
Jemima Goldsmith also alleged that for the past few years, she has been “bullied & harassed into silence by PML-N goons, including rape threats & countless conspiracy theories.”
PML-N, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, is Khan’s arch rival party and is leading the ruling coalition in Pakistan. Khan and his party leaders have been alleging that PML-N is taking every step possible to end PTI’s existence.
An English journalist, she was married to Khan from 1995 till 2004 and they have two sons.
In her post on X, after terming the developments in last few weeks as “serious and concerning” regarding cricketer-turned-politician’s treatment in prison, Jemima Goldsmith said the Pakistan authorities had stopped all visits to him by his family and his lawyers, and also postponed all court hearings.
“In addition to cutting off in-person visits, and in defiance of a court order, his weekly calls to his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, who are British and who live in London, were stopped on September 10,” she wrote in the post on X.
She also alleged that the authorities have “now turned off the lights and electricity in his cell” and he is no longer allowed to leave his cell at any time; also that the jail cook has been sent on leave and claimed that Khan is now completely isolated, “in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world.”
“These actions come in the context of ongoing targeting of Imran’s family, as well as his party (PTI) members and supporters in an attempt to silence them and all political opposition in Pakistan,” she further alleged.