By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and secretary general Salman Akram Raja were among six lawyers listed to meet jailed former prime minister Imran Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison on Tuesday, as the party sought to capitalise on a cautious easing of tensions in parliament.
The list, filed by advocate Awais Younas Chaudhry with the jail administration, also named Ali Zaman, Haider Majeed, Imran Khan Orakzai and Shamsa Kiyani. The submission cited a standing court order permitting Khan — held on multiple criminal charges since August 2023 — to receive visits from lawyers and family members every Tuesday.
The filing followed remarks by Barrister Gohar in the National Assembly in which he expressed hope that a recent public handshake between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai could improve relations between the treasury and opposition benches and ultimately open the door to a meeting with the PTI founder.
Khan’s sisters, including Aleema Khan, were separately expected to visit Adiala on Tuesday under the same Islamabad High Court order authorising weekly family contact.
The visit request comes after a protest that Aleema Khan announced last Tuesday failed to draw the numbers she had pledged. Despite promises of a 10,000-strong demonstration outside the prison, fewer than 1,000 supporters materialised. PTI officials attributed the poor turnout to Achakzai, who leads the Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan alliance — an allegation his alliance’s spokesperson flatly rejected.
Jail authority accuses defence of misleading court
In a separate and significant development, Adiala’s prison superintendent has told the Islamabad High Court that lawyers representing Khan and his wife, former first lady Bushra Bibi, deliberately withheld a power of attorney document in the Al Qadir Trust corruption case in what the submission describes as an attempt to mislead the bench.
The superintendent said in a written response to the court that the power of attorney had been signed and ready as of June 16, and that Barrister Salman Safdar — one of the defence counsels — was notified by text message the same day. A screenshot of the message was attached to the court submission.
“The lawyers of the founder and Bushra Bibi deliberately did not obtain the power of attorney before the hearing on June 18,” the superintendent’s response stated.
Defence counsel Barrister Safdar had sought multiple adjournments before the June 18 hearing, telling the court on each occasion that procedural obstacles and an inability to access his clients at the prison had prevented him from completing the paperwork.
The IHC bench, led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif, had warned the defence that if arguments were not presented at the next scheduled hearing, the court would proceed to decide the case on the basis of the record already before it.
Daughter files negligence complaint over mother’s eye surgery
Bushra Bibi’s daughter, Mubashra Khawar Maneka, has separately filed a formal complaint with the Punjab home department alleging that jail staff at Adiala displayed criminal negligence in handling her mother’s deteriorating eyesight, leaving a treatable condition unattended for weeks.
In a letter addressed to the provincial home secretary, Maneka said Bushra Bibi had been suffering from a retinal disease requiring surgery, but that her complaints were ignored by prison staff until mid-April, when the matter was finally escalated to the relevant jail authorities. A medical examination followed, and Bushra Bibi subsequently underwent surgery at Al Shifa Eye Hospital in Rawalpindi.
Maneka’s complaint singled out one jail employee for negligence and accused the same staff member of “consistently abusive, rude and disrespectful behaviour” toward her mother during routine prison interactions. She called for strict disciplinary action and the immediate reassignment of the employee from duties involving Bushra Bibi.
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