Imran Khan contacts sons from jail on Eid as Kasim shares criticism of judiciary

Former prime minister Imran Khan spoke to his sons by telephone from Adiala jail on Eidul Fitr, marking a rare moment of direct contact with Kasim and Sulaiman Khan even as the broader dispute over prison conditions, visas and political treatment deepened. According to jail sources cited by multiple outlets, the call lasted around 25 to 30 minutes, during which the two sons asked after their father’s health. Khan, imprisoned in Rawalpindi and now spending his third Eid in custody, did not join congregational Eid prayers at the jail because of security restrictions and remained in his cell.

The phone call came after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the PTI founder would be allowed to speak to his children on Eid, and that his sons were welcome to travel to Pakistan on their NICOP cards without needing visas. Tarar’s remarks were framed as a response to concerns raised by Khan’s former wife, Jemima Goldsmith, who had publicly said their sons applied for visas in January but had still not received approval more than 60 days later. She also objected to the suggestion that they travel on NICOP documentation alone, arguing that doing so would leave them without British consular protection.

Kasim relays Khan’s message

What began as an Eid family call quickly turned political. On Sunday, Kasim Khan posted that he had spoken to his father and was sharing a message at Imran Khan’s request. In that statement, the PTI founder launched a blistering attack on the judiciary, accusing judges of having “sold” their integrity and alleging that the pressure being exerted on him had increasingly shifted toward his family.

Khan’s sharpest remarks focused on his wife, Bushra Bibi. He alleged that she was being kept in prolonged isolation and allowed only minimal contact with him, describing the treatment as inhumane and politically motivated. He cast it not simply as a legal grievance but as a moral and religious one, saying women, children and the elderly should not be used as instruments of pressure. The message was meant to underline a familiar PTI claim: that Khan’s imprisonment is not merely punitive, but part of a wider effort to break him politically by tightening the screws on those closest to him.

A family dispute that keeps feeding the political crisis

The fight over access to Khan has now become more than a private family matter. His sons, who live in London, have repeatedly spoken out over his prison conditions. Their unresolved travel issue, Jemima’s public intervention, and the state’s insistence that no visa barrier exists have all added another combustible layer to an already charged political standoff.

For Khan, the Eid call offered a brief personal reprieve. Politically, however, it became yet another front in the battle he continues to wage from behind bars: against the government, against the prison authorities, and now, once more, against the judiciary itself.