By Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI: The sisters of Imran Khan, the imprisoned former prime minister, were among 400 people charged with terrorism and other offences on Wednesday after the police dispersed a sit-in outside the jail where he is held, escalating a confrontation over access to the jailed opposition leader.
The charges stemmed from a protest demanding a court-ordered meeting with Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. The police used water cannons and baton charges to break up the gathering at Factory Naka near Adiala Jail, beginning their operation at 2 am on Wednesday.
A first information report filed on Dec. 17 accused the suspects of using petrol bombs and violating Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which bans public gatherings. The document named 35 individuals under provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 and the Pakistan Penal Code, including charges of criminal conspiracy, rioting and attempted murder. Among those named were Khan’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan Niazi — along with PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, party leader Aliya Hamza and lawyer Naeem Panjhuta.
Separately, 14 PTI workers arrested during the dispersal were presented before an anti-terrorism court on Thursday, which granted the police three days of physical remand. The PTI denounced the actions in a statement from its central media department, accusing the Punjab Police of deploying “chemical-laced” water cannons against party leaders and workers. It described the forcible arrests as “the worst manifestation of political victimisation” and the application of anti-terrorism laws as a sign of “a fearful government’s panic and moral bankruptcy.”
The party further criticised the government for “weaponising the law to target citizens and peaceful political activists,” calling it “an attack on democracy, justice and fundamental human rights.” It accused authorities of “deliberately, systematically and repeatedly obstructing the legally mandated bi-weekly meetings” of Khan with his family, lawyers and friends, reducing court orders to “mere scraps of paper.” Such obstructions, the statement said, violated orders from the Islamabad High Court and constituted “a direct assault on the Constitution, the rule of law and the authority of the judiciary.”
The sit-in followed repeated denials of access to Khan, despite a March 24 ruling by the Islamabad High Court allowing meetings twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Khan’s sisters and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had been turned away in recent weeks. After a denial last Tuesday, they and their supporters began the protest, which was initially dispersed with water cannons.
Early Wednesday, the police returned with water cannon vehicles, followed by baton charges on those who lingered. Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen leader Allama Raja Nasir, who stayed at the site until late Tuesday, condemned the “inhuman treatment” of the protesters.
Amnesty International also weighed in on Wednesday, criticising the “repeated” use of high-pressure water cannons as “a flagrant violation of their right to peaceful assembly.” The organisation urged Pakistani authorities to “respect people’s right to peacefully protest and end the disproportionate and punitive use of force.”
Khan has been incarcerated at Adiala Jail since August 2023, serving a sentence in a £190 million corruption case while facing trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act linked to May 9, 2023, protests. The PTI has voiced ongoing worries about his health and that of his wife. But on Dec. 2, after a meeting, Uzma Khan told reporters that her brother was “perfectly fine.” She added, however: “Imran Khan’s health is perfectly fine. However, he was very angry and said that they are subjecting him to mental torture.” She described him as confined to his cell most of the day, with only brief time outside, and cut off from communication. Their meeting lasted about 30 minutes.
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