By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were turned away from Adiala jail in Rawalpindi for the second straight day on Thursday, after prison officials once again refused to let them meet party founder Imran Khan.
MNA Ahad Ali Shah, who was part of the group of six PTI figures who went to the jail, said the party had now concluded that the government had no intention of allowing any meeting as long as the opposition remained peaceful. “We have reached a conclusion that the government will not arrange meeting with Imran Khan if the party remains peaceful,” Shah told local media. “It seems that now we will have to resort to agitation as the government is not ready to listen to our peaceful requests and demands.”
The Islamabad High Court has ordered that Khan be allowed twice-weekly visits — on Tuesdays and Thursdays — with family members, lawyers and other associates at the jail where he has been held since 2023. Despite that order, the former prime minister has been barred from receiving visitors for several weeks.
On Wednesday, Shah posted on X that the PTI had submitted a list of the six leaders, including himself, to jail authorities seeking permission for the meeting. The group arrived at Adiala jail about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Jail staff told them a message had been sent seeking approval and that they should wait. The lawmakers stayed until 4 p.m., when the visiting period ended without any response. They left without seeing Khan.
The latest refusal followed a tense clash the day before on the edge of Islamabad. On Tuesday, a caravan of PTI workers and leaders headed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi tried to reach the jail but was blocked by police from entering the capital. The group staged a sit-in at the intersection of Srinagar Highway and Grand Trunk Road, known locally as Chungi No. 26.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Afridi and Khan’s sister Aleema Khan said Islamabad police had fired bullets at the protesters during the sit-in. Later Thursday, opposition parties held a separate meeting at Parliament House. It was chaired by Mehmood Khan Achakzai, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and head of the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan alliance. More than 70 PTI senators and members of the National Assembly took part, along with Senate opposition leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.
In a post on X, the TTAP said the meeting focused on Khan’s health, the repeated blocking of jail visits and the demand that he be shifted to a hospital. Participants also worked out final plans for nationwide protests set for Friday. Both the TTAP and PTI have called for demonstrations across Pakistan on Friday to protest Khan’s imprisonment, rising inflation and other grievances. The alliance statement said lawmakers were being briefed on the protest strategy and that consultations were continuing to coordinate action on the ground.
The back-to-back denials of access to Khan have left PTI leaders increasingly frustrated, coming on top of the court’s clear instructions for regular visits. The party is now openly discussing a shift from petitions and formal requests toward broader street action.
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