Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan recently led a scathing attack on the country’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir. In a slew of new statements, Imran’s sister called him a radical Islamist who “yearns for war with India.” Speaking on The World with Yalda Hakim on Sky News, Aleema said that Munir’s Islamic radicalisation forces him to fight non-believers.
“Asim Munir is a very radicalised Islamist and Islamic conservative. This is the reason why he yearns for a war with India. His Islamic radicalisation and conservatism force him to fight against those who don’t believe in Islam,” Aleema said on the show.
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“Whenever Imran Khan comes to power, you will see that he always tries to befriend India, and even the BJP. Whenever there is this radical Islamist, Asim Munir, you will see that there will be war with India — and not just India; even the allies of India will suffer.”
Aleema appealed to the West to increase its efforts to free Imran Khan, whom she described as an “asset.”
Other Sister Meets Imran Khan
Amid mounting rumours about Imran Khan’s health and claims by his family seeking proof that he is alive, authorities at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on Tuesday allowed the former prime minister’s sister, Uzma Khanum, to meet him, Pakistani outlet Dawn reported.
The meeting took place after PTI staged protests outside the Islamabad High Court and Adiala Jail, alleging restrictions on Imran Khan’s visitation rights. The party claimed that his family members and party leaders were denied access to him for several weeks.
After meeting her brother last night, Uzma Khan told the press:
“Imran Khan’s health is perfectly fine. However, he said that they are subjecting him to ‘mental torture’, and that Asim Munir is responsible for all of this.”
Rumours about Imran Khan’s death intensified after his sisters were denied permission to see him despite court orders allowing family access.
Why Has Imran Khan Been Jailed?
The cricketer-turned-politician was arrested from his Lahore residence in August 2023, when an Islamabad court handed him a three-year jail sentence following his conviction in a corruption case.
The ruling also banned him from holding any office for the next five years. Months before his arrest, Khan told Al Jazeera that he had been named in at least 85 different cases. In January 2025, Khan was sentenced to 14 years in prison for land corruption. The verdict for his jail term was delivered in the same jail by an anti-graft court, where he has been held since August 2023.
Cases Against Imran Khan
Corruption
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were convicted of taking land as a gift from a real-estate developer during his time in the PM’s office in exchange for illegal favours. The couple were accused of receiving an amount close to Rs 700 crore as a bribe through a trust created in 2018. Khan’s PTI stated that the land was donated for charitable purposes.
The Pakistani PM was also charged with abetting violence in the aftermath of his arrest in May 2023. Multiple PTI supporters have also been sentenced in relation to the same case.
Spreading State Secrets
Imran Khan was also accused of making a classified cable – sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022 – public while he held the PM’s office. Khan was later acquitted in the case.
