Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday rejected claims that Imran Khan’s sons had been denied visas to enter Pakistan, saying both Kasim and Sulaiman Khan hold valid National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis and could travel to the country immediately if they chose to.
The statement came after the two men, who live in London with their mother Jemima Goldsmith, claimed their NICOPs had expired and accused the government of blocking their return to see their imprisoned father.
What Asif Said
“The children of the founder of PTI last traveled to Pakistan on these NICOPs in 2022. And today, if they want, they can visit Pakistan. Both NICOPs are valid,” Asif wrote on X. “It is wrong for the family or PTI to give the impression that the government is not giving them visas.”
The minister went further than previous government statements on the matter, publishing partial NICOP numbers for both brothers. He said Kasim’s card remains valid until November 8, 2032, while Sulaiman’s is valid until January 6, 2030. Asif noted the brothers last used these documents to travel to Pakistan in November 2022, when Khan was injured in an assassination attempt during a political rally.
A NICOP functions as a recognized travel document for Pakistani citizens living abroad, allowing entry into the country without a separate visa. A day before Asif’s statement, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had already addressed the issue, confirming that both NICOPs remained valid and could be used for travel, though officials cautioned that entry into the country would not automatically guarantee access to visit Khan in Adiala Jail.
A Dispute With a Long History
The disagreement over the brothers’ travel documents is not new. Kasim first said in December 2025 that he and Sulaiman had applied for visas to visit their father. By February, he was accusing the government of “deliberately” refusing to process the applications.
The following month, Jemima Goldsmith made a direct public appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying her sons had applied for visas again in January and that the Pakistani consulate’s standard processing time of seven to ten working days had stretched past sixty days with no response. She said the delay came despite earlier public assurances from both Khawaja Asif and Sharif’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, that the brothers would be able to travel safely.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar responded at the time by confirming the brothers were “welcome to visit Pakistan on their Nicop cards as Pakistani citizens for which no visa is required,” while adding that they would be expected to fully comply with Pakistani law during their stay. PTI, for its part, has accused the government of using the NICOP requirement itself as a way to strip the brothers of British consular protection while inside Pakistan, a claim officials have not directly addressed.
Why It Matters
Kasim and Sulaiman have not seen their father in person since 2022, and PTI has repeatedly linked the dispute to broader concerns about Khan’s health and treatment in custody, concerns that have intensified following his hospital transfer earlier this month and the ongoing standoff over the terms of his medical care. With both sides now publicly disputing basic facts about document validity, the question of whether the visit actually happens may ultimately depend less on paperwork than on the wider political relationship between PTI and the federal government.
