By Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI: Two women were arrested on Friday after throwing an egg at Aleema Khanum, sister of former prime minister Imran Khan, during a media appearance outside Adiala Jail, where a hearing in the Toshakhana corruption case had taken place earlier, police said.
Footage of the incident, which captured Aleema’s startled reaction, spread quickly across Pakistani news channels and social media.
The Rawalpindi Police identified the suspects as supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who had traveled to Rawalpindi with members of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance and the All Pakistan Clerks Association to protest unmet demands. “The egging took place when Aleema Khan did not answer the questions raised by the two women,” a police statement said. “They have been taken into custody and transferred to the Adiala checkpoint.”
Police said both the women are government employees from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa protesting delayed salaries and other grievances under Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. “People from KP All Government Employees Grand Alliance and APCA had come to protest,” police said.
According to police, the women attempted to flee in their car after the incident, but PTI supporters surrounded the vehicle, hurling pebbles and shattering its windshield. PTI later reposted a video on X of a white Honda BR-V, with the registration number BJS-608 clearly visible, calling the episode a “shameful attack on Aleema Khan.”
A party statement claimed its workers chased the women, but police “facilitated their escape as part of a plan” and alleged the women were sent to the media event “as part of an agenda.” PTI demanded a first information report be filed over the “attack.”
A search of public records on the Sindh Excise Department’s website, however, revealed that the registration number BJS-608 is linked to a Suzuki Alto, not a Honda BR-V.
Aleema Khan, who has been campaigning for her brother’s release since August 2024, was at Adiala Jail for the Toshakhana hearing when the egg was thrown. Visibly shaken but quick to recover, she told reporters, “We don’t care if anyone attacks us as we knew this would happen.” She spoke briefly before leaving in her car to avoid further questions.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the incident. “There is someone who wants to worsen the situation by attacking PTI founder’s family,” Gohar Khan said. He called it “the first time that the matter has reached the point of physical attack” and urged the government to provide “foolproof security” for Imran Khan’s family.
Khan, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence in a £190 million corruption case and faces trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act for May 9 incidents. The egg-throwing recalled a 2014 plot in Gujranwala, where police foiled a plan by PML-N activists to pelt Khan with rotten eggs, tomatoes, and shoes bearing the slogan “Ro Imran Ro”. Four activists were arrested after confessing to the scheme.
During her media talk, Aleema Khan addressed concerns about her brother’s health, saying she had informed him of social media rumors. She relayed that Imran dismissed an ear issue as “not serious” and confirmed doctors had prescribed medication for his eyes, insisting he was in good health. Aleema also shared Khan’s grief over flood devastation that destroyed crops nationwide, noting his call for unity to support victims.
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