By Staff Reporter
RAWALPINDI: Sisters of Imran Khan, the imprisoned founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and hundreds of party supporters staged a sit-in outside Adiala jail on Tuesday, pressing for access to the former prime minister in line with a court order that has gone unheeded for weeks.
The demonstration at Factory Naka, near the high-security prison, marked a continuation of weekly protests amid growing tensions over Khan’s detention. Police deployed in large numbers to contain the crowd, but participants vowed to persist until granted a meeting. Aleema Khan, one of Khan’s sisters, led the march toward the jail before being halted by authorities. “We will sit wherever we are stopped,” she told reporters en route.
The Islamabad High Court issued an order on March 24 mandating twice-weekly meetings with Khan on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Yet Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders say the directive is being ignored. Over recent weeks, Khan’s sisters, Aleema, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan Niazi, along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, have been repeatedly denied entry. Last Tuesday’s attempt ended in a dispersal by water cannons in the early morning hours.
Prepared for potential escalation, Aleema Khan displayed a blanket on camera and mentioned bringing warm clothes for a prolonged stay. She emphasised the routine nature of the standoff. “This occurs every Tuesday at the same location. We have no other option left besides protesting. Our founder’s demand is the restoration of the Constitution, democracy and the rule of law.”
Aleema Khan criticised the government’s rationale for curtailing visits, referencing Uzma Khan’s brief encounter with Khan on Dec. 2, which officials deemed a violation of jail rules due to “political conversations.” “Tell me what political matters my sister discussed in the last meeting,” Aleema Khan said. “Political topics should be discussed with the people of the party.”
Addressing a viral artificial intelligence-generated image depicting Khan in prison, she admitted unfamiliarity with the technology but affirmed its resemblance to his appearance as of October. “Until two months ago, when we used to go visit the jail, the founder used to look exactly like this,” she said. “It may be AI, but it is the right AI. I don’t know what the prison looks like from the inside, but I can say that Imran Khan looked like this on October 16, the last time we met.”
Aleema Khan relayed Khan’s complaints from the Dec. 2 meeting, where he described solitary confinement and said, “The mental torture is far worse than the physical torture.” “They think he will break, but Imran Khan is a man with faith in God. He will not break,” she said. “Imran Khan has said he is ready to accept death, but he will not be subdued by cruelty and injustice.” She accused the government of seeking a deal with Khan, but stressed his imprisonment stems from broader principles. “He is not imprisoned for himself, but for the supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law.”
Naeem Haider Panjhuta, Khan’s spokesperson on legal affairs, documented the scene in a video, showing throngs of workers extending the protest into evening. “We are waiting for a meeting with Khan sahib,” he said. “Today is the designated day for family and lawyers to meet him. They are not letting us meet him, despite the IHC court order and visits being permitted in the jail manual.”
Salman Akram Raja, the party’s secretary general, rallied supporters at the site. “This is not only the job of the assembly members,” he said, urging nationwide participation. “How can these people tell someone what they can and cannot discuss in a meeting?” Responding sharply to skepticism about the protest’s impact, Raja asked, “Do you think 20-30,000 people can overthrow a system that has been in place for the past 78 years? We are calling out to the entire nation. We do not want to carry on this drama for another day, after which people will die. We will make a conscious effort and will not submit to pressure.” He predicted a tipping point. “The moment would come when hundreds of thousands of people would take to the streets.”
A party livestream on X captured young supporters waving flags and chanting as they advanced toward the prison. Khan, jailed since August 2023, is serving time in a £190 million corruption case and faces trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act tied to May 9, 2023, protests. Concerns about his well-being persist. His son, Kasim Khan, voiced fears in a Dec. 1 interview that officials might be hiding “something irreversible” regarding his condition.
After her Dec. 2 visit, Uzma Khan countered rumors. “Imran Khan’s health is perfectly fine. However, he was very angry and said that they are subjecting him to mental torture.” She described his routine: confined to his cell most of the day, with limited outdoor time, and isolated from contact. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes. Last Friday, a United Nations special rapporteur highlighted conditions potentially amounting to inhuman or degrading treatment, urging compliance with international standards. The party condemned the findings as revealing “degrading treatment” and a “blatant violation of international law and fundamental human rights.”
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