The row erupted during the second Test when Sky Sports broadcasted an interview conducted by former England captain Michael Atherton with Khan\u2019s sons, Sulaiman and Kasim. The pair spoke about their imprisoned father\u2019s deteriorating health and prison conditions in Pakistan, leading to reports emerging that the PCB threatened not to take the field in the post-lunch session on day one unless the interview\u2019s airing was cancelled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThey made absolute fools of themselves,\u201d Kasim told The Telegraph on Sunday. Sulaiman, meanwhile, expressed shock at the PCB\u2019s reaction to the interview. \u201cI was expecting some sort of response. But I didn't think they would be so tactless as to threaten not to take to the field.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt shouldn't be in the remit of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to ask for an interview about an ex-Pakistan player, somebody who lived in England for 22 years, to be taken down. This wasn't about politics, but about the humanitarian situation and his health.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With Naqvi, also Pakistan's Interior Minister, under immense spotlight, Kasim and Sulaiman have raised urgent safety concerns regarding Khan\u2019s solitary confinement. \u201cThey're clearly hoping to kill him in there. They want to silence him as secretly as possible and just slowly make him fade into nothing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThat's a very difficult thing to do with the most popular person in Pakistan right now. Their strategy, whenever we speak, is to let everything fizzle out and then impose more brutal restrictions that make it even harder for him to survive.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With Naqvi, also Pakistan's Interior Minister, under immense spotlight, Kasim and Sulaiman have raised urgent safety concerns regarding Khan\u2019s solitary confinement. \u201cThey're clearly hoping to kill him in there. They want to silence him as secretly as possible and just slowly make him fade into nothing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThey haven't given us proof of any of this. It's all just hearsay from government sources \u2013 there's no transparency, they don't want to give anyone access, so how are we supposed to believe any of it? The last verifiable piece of information we had was from him, six months ago, when he spoke about his eye and how it had been neglected.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n