By Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI: Police briefly detained former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sisters and arrested dozens of his party supporters on Tuesday during a clash outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where authorities barred the incarcerated leader’s family from meeting him for the third consecutive week, officials and party leaders said.
The confrontation erupted at the Gorakhpur checkpoint near the jail after Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan — Khan’s sisters — along with their cousin Qasim Khan Niazi were stopped by police from entering the facility.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers gathered in protest, chanting slogans against the government before clashes broke out.
Police baton-charged the crowd and arrested multiple PTI leaders, including Aliya Hamza and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chief Sahibzada Muhammad Hamid Raza, a key ally of the party. Khan’s sisters and their cousin were also taken into custody but released hours later following mediation by Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub.
“If you have taken us into custody, then take us to the police station,” Aleema Khan reportedly told officers after their vehicle was stopped near the jail. Police responded by urging them to “go back home,” according to witnesses. The group was later released near Chakri Interchange on the motorway, where they transferred to a private car accompanied by PTI’s Raza.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the detentions, calling them “illegal and unconstitutional” and citing an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that grants Khan’s family and lawyers twice-weekly meetings.
“The court has clearly ordered that the family be allowed to meet the PTI founder. No conditional terms exist,” he added.
Aleema Khan, speaking to reporters earlier outside the jail, expressed frustration over repeated denials.
“They said we’re not allowed to go inside. Why not?” she said, adding that the family had been blocked from meetings since March 20. “Yesterday was a gazetted holiday, and we were denied again. Are these restrictions only for family?” she asked, referencing Khan’s recent meetings with PTI leaders, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.
“We are very distressed. If we’re not allowed to meet him, we’ll continue to sit outside the jail,” Aleema wrote in a post on social media platform X. “Today, again, police have been deployed here to stop us from meeting him. In such circumstances, if we don’t feel upset, then what else are we supposed to feel?”
The Islamabad High Court in March reinstated visitation rights every Tuesday and Thursday under strict conditions, including a ban on media interactions and approval of visitors by Khan’s coordinator, Salman Akram Raja.
Jail authorities, however, cited “security concerns” and “gazetted holidays” to justify blocking family access, a move PTI alleges is part of a broader effort to isolate the former premier.
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