Imran Khan's sons meet Trump aide Richard Grenell ahead of PTI protest

• Imran Khan's sons meets Grenell in California.
• Dr Asif Mahmood also attends the meeting. 
• Trump's aide once again calls for PTI founder's release. 
  

Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan’s sons, Sulaiman Khan and Kasim Khan, met United States President Donald Trump’s aide Richard Grenell on Wednesday ahead of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) protest for the party founder's release from prison.

The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was booked in multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism since his ouster from power via the opposition's no-trust motion in April 2022.

Kasim called attention to their father’s imprisonment for the first time publicly in May. Taking to X in June, he expressed concern over Imran’s condition in the jail.

He wrote, “My father, former prime minister Imran Khan, has now spent over 700 days in prison — held in solitary confinement. He is denied access to his lawyers, not allowed visits from his family, fully cut off from us (his children), and even his personal doctor is refused entry. This is not justice. It is a deliberate attempt to isolate and break a man who stands for rule of law, democracy and Pakistan.”

Following Tuesday's meeting, Grenell, US special presidential envoy for special missions, took to X and said that he had met Sulaiman and Kasim in California, urging them to “stay strong”.

“There are millions of people around the world who are sick of political prosecutions. You are not alone.”

Meanwhile, Dr Asif Mahmood, a Pakistani-American physician, was also present on the occasion. He shared a picture along with Grenell and former premier’s sons.

“Immense pride for Kasim and Sulaiman Khan for their bravery in fighting for their father, former prime minister Imran Khan’s freedom,” he said. He also praised Grenell for “standing for justice and principle” and called for unity to free the PTI founder.

Separately, Kasim also took to X and slammed the incumbent government over his father's "imprisonment and torture".

He said that his father gave everything to this country — "sacrificing comfort, peace, and safety to fight for Pakistan’s future".

"Today, he is silenced, tortured, imprisoned, and completely cut off from us. From the moment we could understand, he taught my brother and me how devastating a corrupt government can be. To see him now accused of that very crime is a cruel, intolerable irony," he wrote.

Earlier this month, Imran’s sister Aleema Khan told reporters in Rawalpindi that his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, had decided to travel from the United Kingdom (UK) to the US and would eventually arrive in Pakistan to play their role in the PTI’s protest campaign against the government.

"Firstly, they are going to America and they’re telling all their friends, ‘And we will go and tell them [US administration] about the human rights [situation] and what injustice is being done to their father [in Pakistan]’,” Aleema said.

“Secondly, Sulaiman [and] Qasim have said, ‘After that, we will come to Pakistan.’ And they want to play their part in the [protest] movement.”

Following Aleema's comments, senior government officials suggested that Khan’s sons could be arrested if they enter Pakistan and participate in the PTI protest, scheduled for later this month or the next.

Responding to the development, Jemima Goldsmith — Imran's former wife — strongly criticised the Pakistani government for threatening to deny her sons any contact with their father.