Afghanistan is not our enemy: Imran Khan tells Aleema Khan

The sister of incarcerated former premier Imran Khan, Aleema Khan, on Tuesday, quoted her brother as stating that “Afghanistan is not our enemy.”

Speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Aleema quoted her brother as saying, “Afghanistan is not our enemy. Don’t attempt to make it the enemy."

She further quoted Imran Khan as asking, “Why are you trying to trigger a war with Muslim brothers for no reason,” adding that whatever she was disclosing to the media was a private conversation with Imran Khan.

On being asked about Imran Khan's point of view regarding the rapid uprising of terrorism in Pakistan, she argued that during her brother’s tenure as the country’s premier, terrorism was at its lowest level.

Aleema further said that terrorism in the country remained at its lowest level since 2021. However, a resurgence in terrorism was again observed in 2022. “You [reporter] will come to know after conducting research that the entire country accepts that he [Imran Khan] is the need of Pakistan," and nobody can better handle terrorism issue than Imran Khan, she added.

Asked what the jailed Imran Khan’s reaction was after knowing that his party was not participating in Tuesday's in-camera session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), Aleema stated that the PTI founder said his party would go to a PCNS meeting only with his permission. 

Days after outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists attacked the Jaffar Express in the Bolan district of Balochistan last week, the in-camera session of the PCNS occurred on Tuesday.

The former ruling party did not attend the session. PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, while speaking at a press conference in Islamabad hours before the initiation of the session, said that their party would skip the session until they were given access to the party founder in jail.

Raja confirmed that no PTI representative would participate except for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Ali Amin Gandapur, who is, in fact, attending the huddle in his capacity as the province's representative.

Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Lieutenant General Asim Malik, chief ministers of all four provinces including Ali Amin Gandapur, and other top officials had attended the meeting.

Complaining that her brother was not receiving newspapers nowadays and his TV set was turned off as well, she quoted her brother as claiming that he could talk to his children on the phone only four times during the last six months.