ISLAMABAD: While incarcerated ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s sisters remain in detention, some other family members will reach Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on Tuesday in a bid to meet him, a PTI lawyer told Dawn on Monday.
Lawyer Awais Younas Chaudhry said the decision had been taken to show the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that its orders to ensure weekly meetings between Imran and his family were not being implemented.
Imran has been in prison since 2023. The IHC has allowed Imran twice-a-week meetings — on Tuesdays and Thursdays — with his family, lawyers and other associates. Despite the order, the PTI founder has been restricted restricted from meeting visitors.
The Supreme Court (SC) also directed authorities on Aug 18 to allow him meetings with his family as it ordered Imran’s medical checkup at Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital, a private facility.
After the SC’s interim order, one of Imran’s sisters, Noreen Niazi, was allowed two consecutive meetings with him. But there has been no other meetings since her last one on August 25.
Noreen, as well as Imran’s other two sisters, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan — who used to reach Adiala every week in the hopes to meet him — have now been detained by the authorities under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960 ahead of the PTI’s Sept 27 protest call.
Now, the PTI has decided that some other family members would reach Adiala on Tuesday for a meeting with Imran, Chaudhry, who submits lists of party leaders and lawyers to the jail administration for the weekly meetings, said.
“We are not expecting that the orders of the IHC will be implemented, but lawyers and Imran’s family members will still reach Adiala,” he said.
The lawyer added that several of Imran’s family members could reach Rawalpindi, “but we have decided not to disclose their names as they can also get arrested”.
Meanwhile, he submitted a list of lawyers for the meeting with Imran. The list comprises PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, Niazullah Niazi, Khalid Yousuf Chaudhry, Raja Yasir and Malik Atif Bashir Awan.
PTI condemns reported arrests of parliamentarians
In recent days, there has been reports of a crackdown on the PTI ahead of its Sept 27 countrywide protest and march to Islamabad, which the party has called to demand Imran’s release from jail and mobilise people for the supremacy of the Constitution.
The PTI has claimed that several of its members, including MNAs Sanaullah Mastikhel, Ahsan Jamal Khan and Mian Ghous, have been taken into custody by the authorities.
On Monday, the party condemned these reports arrests of its parliamentarians from the Parliament Lodges, calling for their immediate release.
In a statement, the party declared the reported arrests a “grave assault on the Constitution, democratic values and parliamentary traditions”.
“Reports of the detention of MNAs Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, Dawar Khan Kundi, Ahsan Jamal Khan, Mian Ghaus and Adil Khan Bazai, as well as an MPA from Chitral, Fatehul Mulk, are deeply concerning,” the party said.
“Parliament is a symbol of people’s mandate, and turning it into a place for action against political opponents shows a dangerous trend against the democratic system,” the party said.
Meanwhile, leaders of opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) — which includes the PTI — expressed concern over the prevailing political situation in the country.
TTAP Vice Chairman Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar met Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas at the opposition leader’s chamber on Monday, a TTAP statement said.
“The leaders expressed serious concern over the prevailing political situation in the country, the arrests of political workers, parliamentarians and ordinary citizens, the closure of major roads with containers, and the arrest of Imran Khan’s sisters,” the statement added.
“Targeting a homemaker for political reasons amounted to crossing all moral, democratic and constitutional limits,” it added, citing Khokhar and Abbas.
The TTAP leaders urged the government to “reconsider its approach, release all detained political workers and citizens and remove the containers blocking public roads”.
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