By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Not a single leader from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf turned up Thursday at Adiala jail outside the capital for a court-authorised meeting with the party’s founder and former prime minister, Imran Khan, in the latest sign of apparent disarray within the opposition movement.
The Islamabad High Court has ordered that Khan be allowed visitors twice a week — on Tuesdays and Thursdays — including family members, lawyers and other associates. Yet for months the directive has gone largely unenforced, leaving the imprisoned ex-premier with sharply limited contact with the outside world.
On Wednesday, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja forwarded the required list of six proposed visitors to jail authorities. It included Falak Naz Chitrali, Fazal Elahi, Ehtesham Khan, Sardar Ghulam Ali, Asghar Khan Lehri, Syed Naseebullah Agha and Chaudhry Javed Akhtar Gujjar. By the 4 pm cutoff for meetings with inmates, none had appeared at the prison gates.
The party’s central information secretary, Sheikh Waqas Akram, said the PTI had taken “strict notice” of the no-show and would discuss the “unfortunate development” at a meeting of senior leaders. Speaking to reporters, Akram noted that thousands of party workers and officials regularly attempt to visit Khan even when their names are not on the approved list. “There are thousands of leaders and workers who want to meet Imran,” he said. “Many workers go to Adiala jail every week despite the fact that their names are not included in the list and they will not be allowed to meet Imran. We will make sure that those who cannot come to Adiala jail should not give their names [for meetings].”
Akram added that the party would address the issue and take “strict action” over it. One of the six leaders on Thursday’s list, Asghar Khan Lehri, said he had been unable to make the trip because his daughter-in-law had been admitted to a hospital in Lahore, where she gave birth to a grandchild. “It was a matter of pride for me that my name was included in the list of people who had to meet Khan sahib,” Lehri said. “I have been in the party since 2011 and contested two elections.” He described Khan as “the most popular leader in Pakistan” and said the PTI had “a bright future.”
The episode repeated a pattern from the previous week. Then, too, Raja had sent a list of prominent PTI figures for the scheduled visit — including party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Sardar Latif Khosa, Babar Awan and Hamid Khan. None appeared at the jail. In contrast, Khan’s sisters have shown up faithfully outside Adiala every Tuesday in an effort to see their brother. Authorities have repeatedly denied them entry. The repeated failure of listed leaders to appear for the twice-weekly slots has amplified private murmurs of divisions inside the PTI even as the party publicly maintains its cohesion behind the jailed former prime minister.
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