Overview
- Sky Sports aired an 18-minute pre-recorded interview by former England captain Mike Atherton with Kasim and Sulaiman Khan during the lunch interval of the England–Pakistan Test on Thursday, prompting immediate objections from the Pakistan Cricket Board.
- The PCB warned it might keep Pakistan’s players off the field after the break and then lodged a formal complaint that Sky has acknowledged; play resumed and no boycott took place.
- In the interview the brothers said they fear for their father’s life and described deteriorating health in custody, including severe vision loss in one eye and long periods confined to a small cell.
- The row highlights a recent legal dispute: Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Khan be moved to Shifa International Hospital for a multidisciplinary assessment but authorities instead took him briefly to PIMS and returned him to Adiala jail.
- Reactions have been muted with Sky and the England and Wales Cricket Board declining comment and Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV refusing to air the piece, while appeals from former international captains and the PCB’s political links raise the prospect of further diplomatic and cricketing fallout.