By Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI: A sit-in protest led by Aleema Khan, the sister of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, stretched into Tuesday evening outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, after she was again barred from meeting her brother despite a court order permitting such visits.
The demonstration, which drew senior members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, including the secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, and the party’s provincial president in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Junaid Akbar Khan, shows the escalating tensions between the PTI and the authorities over access to the incarcerated leader.
The PTI has repeatedly sought meetings with Khan, who has been held at the high-security facility since his arrest in August 2023 on charges including corruption and inciting violence. Jail officials have denied these requests each time, even though a court directive allows family and legal counsel to visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last week, however, Uzma Khan, another of Khan’s sisters, was permitted to see him. Emerging from the prison, she told reporters that he was “perfectly fine.”
On Tuesday, as Aleema Khan traveled to the jail, she released video statements accusing the state of flouting the law while insisting that her party had acted within it. “If they do operate illegally and we do our work according to the law, and if they are right and we are wrong, then that shows just how our system works,” she said. Aleema Khan also drew attention to Khan’s lack of access to medical care, noting that he had not been allowed to meet his personal physician for the past 14 months. “What is the issue in allowing one doctor to meet Imran Khan?” she asked. “When Nawaz Sharif went to jail, a doctor was with him all day, counting his platelets. What sort of system is this?”
Police approached Khan’s sisters twice during the day, urging them to disperse. Later, a substantial police force was deployed, raising fears of an imminent crackdown. Undeterred, Aleema Khan stepped out of her vehicle and proceeded on foot toward the jail, flanked by a throng of party members and supporters. She reached Gorakhpur Market on Adiala Road, about a kilometer southwest of the prison, before being halted by riot police at a barricade. Seated at the barrier, she issued another video statement. “This is unconstitutional and illegal. Why are they keeping Imran Khan isolated and tortured?” she asked. “These people are violating the Constitution and breaking the law. We will not move from here; they can beat us with sticks or shoot us. Do what you will.”
Nearby, at Dahgal just up the road from the prison, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan addressed reporters, calling on officials to grant the meetings as a way to de-escalate the standoff. “We have a right to come here, and there is a court order allowing us to be here,” he said. “We had an agreement and a consent order that family and legal counsel could meet him (Imran), but even today, we have been stopped.” “There are a lot of things we are trying to do, but they are not in our control. But if we are allowed to meet, if he is allowed to meet his wife then it will improve the situation.” He departed the area without seeing Khan.
Raja, the PTI secretary general, argued that there was “no excuse” to prevent Khan’s sisters from visiting him, describing it as a fundamental right to meet relatives. “No one can deny the right to meet by saying that Imran Khan’s message was shared outside,” he said. Akbar, the provincial president, explained that a large crowd of workers and supporters had converged on the jail in response to a challenge from Senator Faisal Vawda. “We have come here prepared and are willing to sit here the whole night,” he said. “We hope that the meeting will be arranged, but workers are charged and we are ready for a prolonged sit-in.”
He warned that the rift between the public and state institutions was widening, and that the PTI sought to prevent it from growing further. “People have started hating you, so you should think wisely,” Akbar said, without specifying whom he meant. Shahid Khattak, a PTI member of the National Assembly, stressed the peaceful nature of the protest. “I am a parliamentary leader of the PTI in the National Assembly and it is my right to meet Imran Khan,” he said. “Workers have arrived here just because they love Imran Khan and they think that only he can address the issues of Pakistan.”
Khattak also called for a new policy on military operations in tribal areas. “We have no objection to drone attacks, but drones don’t strike the right targets, due to which civilians are being killed,” he said. “I suggest that the elders of tribal areas be involved in negotiating with the terrorists. In the past, we were having tea in Afghanistan and now Afghans have been declared enemies.” Shafiullah Jan, a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly, rebuked claims in the mainstream media that no one would show up at the jail. “He should see that we have reached here,” he said. “I think anger has grown among workers after the press conference of DG ISPR. We will sit here unless one of the sisters is allowed to meet with Imran Khan.”
The current protest follows a similar gathering last Tuesday, when Uzma Khan entered the jail accompanied by PTI supporters. Upon leaving, she relayed remarks from Khan that were later posted to his account on X. The comments criticised the army chief, Fiedl Marshal Asim Munir, and drew a sharp rebuke from the military’s spokesperson on Friday, who called Khan “mentally ill” and a “narcissist.” Last Thursday, the federal government prohibited Uzma Khan and others from meeting Khan, citing breaches of prison rules. “There is no room in the [prison] rules for political discussions and it was reported that political discussions occurred, so meetings are now banned for Uzma Khan. This won’t happen,” Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said.
That day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister Sohail Afridi was turned away for the ninth time. Speaking to the media outside the prison, he said he would soon announce whether to launch a sit-in. The following day, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar declared that “the gloves are off” and vowed harsh measures against anyone protesting outside the jail. He warned that strict action, including arrests and legal cases, would be taken against those disrupting law and order.
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