PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters, party workers and supporters staged a sit-in on Tuesday at Factory Naka, near Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, to demand their court-mandated meeting with the ex-premier.
A court order issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on March 24 this year mandated that meetings with Imran would be permitted twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, the PTI maintains that the order is not being honoured.
Despite the IHC’s order, Imran’s sisters – Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan Niazi – along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, have tried and failed to meet Imran over the past several weeks. Last Tuesday, after being denied a meeting with the PTI chief, his sisters and party supporters staged a sit-in, which was dispersed early morning with water cannons.
Imran’s sisters marched toward the prison before being stopped. Speaking to a reporter as she marched, Aleema said, “We will sit wherever we are stopped.”
When asked if she had prepared for the deployment of water cannons or a prolonged sit-in, she replied that she had brought warm clothes and a blanket, showing the latter on camera.
A large number of party workers and supporters are participating in the sit-in, where a heavy contingent of police is also present.
Speaking to reporters, Aleema stated that this occurs every Tuesday at the same location, maintaining that she and her party supporters are not engaging in any illegal or unconstitutional activities.
“We have no other option left besides protesting,” she said. “Our founder’s demand is the restoration of the Constitution, democracy and the rule of law.”
She claimed that the judiciary has been stripped of independence, unemployment is rising due to the stoppage of trade with Afghanistan and that the security situation is deteriorating.
Referring to her sister Uzma’s brief meeting with Imran on December 2 and the government’s claim of “political conversations” that violated jail rules, Aleema urged the government to tell the family what was discussed.
“Tell me what political matters my sister discussed in the last meeting. Political topics should be discussed with the people of the party,” she said.
Asked about a recent AI (artificial intelligence)-generated image of Imran in prison which went viral, Aleema acknowledged she was not aware of artificial intelligence, but maintained that he looked the same as the person in the photograph as recently as 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 added.
She said that Imran told Uzma during their meeting that “the mental torture is far worse than the physical torture” and that he is being kept in solitary confinement.
“They think he will break, but Imran Khan is a man with faith in God. He will not break,” Aleema emphasised. “Imran Khan has said he is ready to accept death, but he will not be subdued by cruelty and injustice.”
She added that the government wants Imran to cut a deal with them, but insisted that he is not imprisoned for himself, but for the supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, who was also present at the sit-in, urged everyone to come and join the demonstration and express solidarity with the sisters of the party founder.
“This is not only the job of the assembly members,” he said. “How can these people (the government) tell someone what they can and cannot discuss in a meeting?”