Daily Times

After the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) faced an abrupt end to its “final call” protest in Islamabad, Aleema Khan, sister of incarcerated party founder Imran Khan, said on Tuesday that her brother “still holds trump card close to his chest”.

“PTI founder told me that he would not reveal his trump card right now,” Aleema told reporters after meeting the former premier at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where he has been incarcerated for more than one year.

She said that she “waited for six hours yesterday but she was not permitted to meet Imran”.

Aleema also dismissed rumours about the PTI founder’s deteriorating health conditions, saying that he is “totally fine”.

Detailing his brother’s stance on the outcomes of the “do-or-die” protest, she claimed that the PTI founder had no access to newspapers and television in prison to stay updated about the country’s developments.

She added that the PTI founder received information about the Islamabad demonstration from his lawyers who met him today and yesterday.

It is noteworthy to mention here that at least four law enforcers, including three Rangers and one policeman, were martyred during the PTI protest.

On the other hand, the former ruling party claimed that at least 12 of their workers and supporters were killed.

Pointing towards Islamabad police’s crackdown leading to arrests of hundreds of PTI protesters, Aleema said: “Imran was shocked after getting updates about the tragedy from us and instructed to register a first information report (FIR) against [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif and [Interior Minister] Mohsin Naqvi.”

Subsequently, Imran said that the incident would intensify public outrage and ordered the issue to be raised on national and international levels. Aleema also called for questioning the incumbent government for opening fire at the demonstrators.

Criticising the former ruling party’s top leadership, Aleema said: “They should have been there on the container [during the protest] when Bushra Bibi was leading the protesters.”

The former ruling party’s much-hyped protest, aimed at securing Khan’s release, had started on November 24 and “postponed” abruptly in the wee hours of Wednesday, November 27, following a late-night crackdown on party workers and leaders at Islamabad’s D-Chowk.