After Jemima Goldsmith — former wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan — shared her concerns about her incarcerated ex-husband’s health, she was met with a retaliatory response by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.
The federal minister reminded the British filmmaker about the plight of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its leadership when Khan and his party were in power.
A day earlier, Jemima took to X calling for her ex-husband’s immediate release, citing “serious and concerning” reports about his treatment in prison.
She said the Pakistani authorities had stopped all visits to Khan by his family and lawyers, postponed court hearings, and prevented him calling his two sons since early September.
“As a matter of urgency, we are calling for Imran Khan’s release, and for the release of his sisters and nephew as well as for his sons’ contact with their father to be re-established, so that they may have assurance first-hand that he is well and not being mistreated,” she wrote in the post on X.
Asif, on the other hand, responded to her post, reminding the British aristocrat how her husband had treated the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and his family when Khan’s party was in power.
“Her sons’ father has consistently been extended far more humanity than he ever exhibited for his opponents,” wrote Khawaja in his response.
He added that Nawaz was “not allowed so much as a phone call to talk with his dying wife” and also highlighted that “scores of other opposition members jailed – without charges – at the time”.
Nawaz’s wife, Begum Kulsoom passed away on Sept 11, 2018, at London’s Harley Street Clinic after a months-long battle with cancer. When she died, her husband, daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Safdar were all imprisoned in Pakistan. They were later released on parole to attend her funeral when her body was brought back home for burial.
Meanwhile, Jemima’s concerns regarding her former husband’s health came in the wake of agitation raised by his party members who continued to demand the government that they be allowed to meet Khan as he remains incarcerated in the Rawalpindi prison.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, on the other hand a day earlier, shared Khan’s medical report, saying: “Khan Saab is in good health and had exercised for an hour today.”
He confirmed that two doctors — an ENT specialist and a medical specialist — visited Khan at Adiala Jail at 4pm on Tuesday.
According to the report, the former premier was “active”. “He was afebrile with normal blood pressure, pulse & Spo2 96% at room air.”
“His complaint was dyspepsia [a disorder of digestive function] for the last 5 days for which he was already on PPIs. He has tinnitus for last few months for which he is already taking medications and there is no fresh complaints regarding his ears,” read the report.
“He is otherwise fit & healthy and does not need any further medication at the moment,” it concluded.
The ex-wife of Pakistan’s former prime minister also maintained that the electricity had been cut to his cell and he was no longer allowed out at any time, while the jail cook had been sent on leave.
“He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world,” Goldsmith, who was married to the former Pakistan cricket team captain from 1995 to 2004.
The British aristocrat also mentioned her own struggles with being “bullied” and “harassed” into silence by the PML-N supporters, whom she referred to as “goons”, raising the issue of being targeted with “rape threats & countless conspiracy theories”.
The couple have two sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, who live in London.
A panel of UN experts in July criticised Pakistan for arbitrarily detaining Khan in breach of international law to apparently prevent him for running for political office.
Khan, 72, was prime minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022, and has been embroiled in more than 200 legal cases since he was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote he claims was orchestrated by the country’s powerful generals.
He has been detained since August last year and barred from standing for office. He has since applied to become the next chancellor of Britain’s Oxford University.
Goldsmith said Khan’s family had also been targeted, and his sisters and nephew arrested and jailed unlawfully, while she had faced rape and death threats from her ex-husband’s political opponents.
The release of Khan, his nephew and sisters, plus the re-establishment of contact with his sons will provide “assurance first-hand that he is well and not being mistreated”, she added.
“I disagree with IK on many political issues,” she wrote. “But this is not about politics — it’s about my children’s father, his human rights & international law.”
