RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s sisters on Tuesday staged a sit-in near Adiala jail after prison authorities again refused them permission to meet the incarcerated former prime minister.
According to police, the official meeting hours had ended, preventing Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Imran’s sisters, Noreen Khan, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan from entering the jail.
Officers stopped the family at the Factory checkpoint, where Aleema repeatedly urged PTI workers to remain calm and step back, saying the police were “not our enemies” and were “themselves under pressure”.
She added that she was keeping supporters behind because women were present at the location.
Aleema said the family had been denied meeting permission for weeks, insisting her sister had not discussed politics during the previous meeting.
She questioned under whose orders Imran was being kept in “solitary confinement”, adding that the family had been coming for a month solely for the purpose of visitation.
Following the refusal, Imran’s sisters resumed their sit-in near the Factory checkpoint, joined by MNAs Junaid Akbar and Shahid Khattak, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet members Meena Khan and Shafi Jan.
The road leading to Adiala jail remained sealed, with a heavy police deployment at the checkpoint.
Security around the jail was tightened under Section 144, with over 1,200 officers deployed and commercial and educational establishments shut from Gorakhpur to Dahgal.
Separately, PTI leader Asad Qaiser also condemned the refusal of visitation, calling it unlawful.
He said failure to appoint an opposition leader was “unconstitutional” and reiterated the party’s demand for the PTI founder’s release and a merit-based legal process.
He added that imposing a ban on Imran, as some suggested, would not end the party, just as similar bans in the past had never eliminated other political forces.
Meetings with the PTI founder have been a point of contention between the former ruling party and the government for quite some time, with the last meeting held last week when ex-PM’s sister Uzma was allowed to meet him.
Tensions have escalated outside Adiala jail recently as PTI protests, including scuffles with police and jail staff, continue over meetings with the ousted prime minister, who has been imprisoned there for over two years.
Last month, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi staged a 16-hour sit-in outside the facility. Before this, Imran’s sisters Aleema Khan, Noreen Khan Niazi and Uzma Khanum also held a protest outside the jail, which resulted in their brief detention.
However, since then, the government, as confirmed by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, has imposed a blanket ban on meetings with the incarcerated politician.
The ban came hours after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry termed the PTI founder a “mentally ill person” and a threat to national security.
‘Politics should not turn into enmity’
Speaking to journalists at Dahgal checkpoint, Barrister Gohar said meeting the PTI founder was their legal right, supported by multiple court orders.
He criticised authorities for blocking access, warning that rising tensions could push the country into further turmoil. Politics, he said, should not turn into enmity, nor should political opponents resort to “derogatory language”.
He added that constructive dialogue could help defuse the situation, arguing that family and lawyers must be allowed to meet Imran.
“When we meet the PTI founder, he will be properly informed of the situation outside,” he said, adding that obstructing meetings served no purpose.
Gohar said the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had previously played a positive role, and that the PTI founder had delegated negotiation authority to Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Raja Nasir Abbas.
Calling the PTI founder a major national leader, he said the country’s institutions and parliament must work in harmony.
He warned that chaos would push the public towards despair. “Pakistan defeated an enemy five times its size, and we acknowledged the role of our armed forces,” he remarked, adding that if meetings resumed, PTI would work to ease the overall political atmosphere.
