By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday descended into a pointed war of words over the health of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan and the treatment of his party’s political prisoners, with opposition senators demanding the creation of an independent committee to inspect the jails and the government insisting that any relief must come through the courts.
The debate, which consumed much of the upper house’s proceedings, underscored the persistent friction between the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the ruling coalition more than two years after Khan’s arrest triggered widespread unrest. PTI Sen. Azam Swati said Khan had “lost sight in one eye” and urged the state to restore basic human rights to the former prime minister and his wife, Bushra Bibi, as Pakistani citizens. “We need to unite at this time. Inhumane treatment is never justified,” Swati said, pressing the government to “change its decisions and try to improve the situation.”
Khan, the PTI founder, has been imprisoned since Aug. 5, 2023, after being convicted of concealing details of gifts received through the Toshakhana, the state repository for official presents. He is serving a 14-year sentence in the £190 million case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
Senate opposition leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said the denial of rights is a form of oppression. “One who is satisfied with the oppressor’s cruelty is also an oppressor,” he said. Jailing political workers, Abbas added, amounted to “shooting ourselves in the foot.” He proposed forming a small Senate committee — two or three members drawn from both government and opposition benches — to visit Khan and other political prisoners, assess their conditions and report back to the full chamber. “Let everyone stand against whoever is stopping us from visiting jails,” Abbas said. The Senate, he argued, should set an example by refusing to tolerate excesses against politicians.
PTI Sen. Faisal Javed echoed the call for greater access, noting that his party has been barred from entering Adiala jail. He questioned why the government had arranged medical treatment — and even overseas care — for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif but not for Khan. Javed demanded that PTI leaders and family members be allowed to meet the imprisoned former prime minister.
Rana Sanaullah, adviser to the prime minister on political affairs, pushed back firmly. He told senators that both Khan and Bushra Bibi were receiving the best medical treatment available in Pakistan. Jail meetings, he said, are governed by procedures approved by a larger bench of the Islamabad High Court, which allows visits twice a week on separate days for lawyers and family members.
Sanaullah said PTI leaders, including Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, had given the court assurances that the meetings would not be used for political messaging or media campaigns. Those understandings, he charged, had been repeatedly violated through press conferences and international publicity drives. “Campaigns targeting state institutions and their heads were carried out abroad,” Sanaullah said. “Evidence regarding such activities can be presented whenever required.”
He noted that a five-member medical board, formed on the recommendation of doctors nominated by the PTI itself, had endorsed the treatment being provided. Parliamentary rules, Sanaullah added, do not permit a Senate committee to interfere in executive matters involving prison administration.
Turning to the broader political context, Sanaullah observed that “an ‘action’ which succeeds is called a revolution,” but a failed attempt amounts to treachery with consequences. He pointed to the violent protests of May 9, 2023, as a prime example. Khan’s arrest that day sparked riots across Pakistan in which government buildings and military installations — including the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi — were stormed and vandalized. The unrest prompted a sweeping crackdown on the PTI, with dozens of its leaders and supporters charged in terrorism cases.
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