By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: As Imran Khan, the jailed former prime minister and founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, remains cut off from meetings with party leaders and family members, the party announced plans to stage protests outside the Islamabad High Court and Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on Tuesday, defying bans on public gatherings in the twin cities.
The decision underscores growing tensions between the PTI and the government, with party officials accusing judicial and prison authorities of failing to enforce court orders allowing visitations. It follows weeks of denied access to Khan, who has been imprisoned since August 2023 on charges including corruption and inciting violence, which he and his supporters dismiss as politically motivated.
PTI leader Asad Qaiser, a former speaker of the National Assembly, outlined the protest strategy, saying opposition lawmakers from both houses of Parliament would first demonstrate outside the high court before moving to the prison. “It has been decided to hold protests because IHC has failed to implement its order and the Adiala jail administration is not willing to implement the court orders,” Qaiser said.
The protests come amid stringent restrictions on assemblies. The federal capital administration imposed a two-month ban on public gatherings starting Nov. 18, while the Rawalpindi district administration issued a three-day prohibition on Monday. Additionally, the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act of 2024 empowers district magistrates to regulate such events in the capital.
Last week, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, held a sit-in outside Adiala jail after being barred from meeting Khan for the eighth time. Khan’s family members have similarly been denied access for several weeks, fueling speculation about his health, though both government officials and PTI leaders have stated that the former prime minister is in good health.
Qaiser, responding to questions about his own schedule, said he would attend a public gathering in Quetta on Tuesday as an office-bearer of the PTI-led opposition alliance, but emphasised that other party figures would lead the demonstrations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. “Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and other leaders will stage protests in the twin cities,” he added.
The PTI’s parliamentary committee, meeting on Monday, also called for Khan’s release, describing the visitation restrictions as a violation of human rights. “The parliamentary committee also demanded the release of Imran Khan, saying it was a violation of human rights to stop him from meeting his family members,” Qaiser said.
Separately, the PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter planned a rally starting at the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway Interchange, proceeding to culminate at the Swabi interchange. Peshawar PTI President Irfan Saleem said the procession would include participants from Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan and Swabi. Another PTI leader indicated that demonstrators might block the motorway, suspending traffic between Islamabad and Peshawar. The leader added that while lawmakers would join the protests in the capital and Rawalpindi, other office-bearers would focus on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa event.
Meanwhile, police officials in the restive province have been instructed to confine their duties to legal and geographical boundaries, as federal authorities voice growing unease over the potential misuse of state resources by the PTI-led provincial government to support political demonstrations.
The directive, issued in an official circular by Deputy Inspector General Shakir Hussain Dawar of the Security Division, was distributed to senior officers throughout the province. It emphasised that police personnel must uphold neutrality and refrain from participating in any political activities. The order reiterated longstanding regulations barring law enforcement from aligning with political groups or joining their rallies and protests.
This move comes against the backdrop of apprehensions in the federal government that the PTI might deploy the provincial police to advance its agenda, particularly as the party prepares to stage a demonstration outside the Islamabad High Court.
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