Pakistan threatened to refuse to play if British TV aired Imran Khan interview

The Pakistan Cricket Board threatened that its team would not return to the pitch at Lord’s if Sky Sports aired an interview with Imran Khan’s sons.

Khan’s sons accused the Pakistani government of “trying to kill” the imprisoned former Prime Minister and legendary cricket captain in a pre-recorded interview in the Lord’s pavilion, where a portrait of Imran hangs.

The chairman of the PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, is also Pakistan’s Minister of the Interior, and they were unhappy with the interview’s content.

The PCB complained to Sky about the interview. As ESPN CricInfo reported, British broadcaster Sky delayed airing the interview during that dialogue before eventually running the 18-minute clip.

While the interview was still airing, Pakistan’s players were already warming up on the outfield in preparation for the afternoon session. Play then resumed as normal after the brief threat of a delay.

Khan, 73, became prime minister when his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took power in 2018, the latest chapter in a colourful and eventful life that included playing 88 Test matches and winning the 1992 World Cup.

Khan has been in jail in Pakistan for the last three years for a string of allegations that followed his ousting as prime minister in August 2022.

Kasim and Sulaiman Khan, Imran’s sons from his marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, voiced concerns about his treatment .

Calls have come from around the world, including from a group of 21 former international cricket captains and family in the UK , for Khan to be treated better while imprisoned amid concerns over his health.

The brothers have not seen their father since November 2022, and last spoke to him in March.

They say he has lost 80 per cent of his vision in one eye, lives in a “very small cell without any new books” for 23 hours a day, with “no proper air conditioning in summer”. He is said to have rising blood pressure “due to the stress of isolation and solitary confinement”, according to Sulaiman.

“They [Khan’s captors] are not even acting with any kind of strategy anymore,” said Kasim. “It is not very clear what they are doing, just blatantly trying to kill him in there. Keep him in as long as possible, and silence him.

“The last time he was able to speak to our aunties and anyone else, he said the conditions have severely worsened recently. He has been relating it to other political prisoners who have been killed or who have died in prison. Right now, it is worse than ever, completely isolating him more than 23 hours a day in a cell.

“Right now, it’s really crucial for us that he gets proper treatment. He had an eye patch on for the eye situation, seemed visibly stressed, and that is something that is very hard for us to imagine because he embodies a very calm, assured presence, every time I have ever seen him, including being at gunpoint. A car we were in was robbed, and he was the calmest person there, including the robbers.”