The Punjab Home Ministry has implemented a temporary prohibition on incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan from conducting meetings within Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
Imran Khan, currently serving a cumulative sentence of 31 years in multiple cases, has been utilizing his time in the Rawalpindi facility since September 2023 for meetings with his legal team, family members, and party officials.
The ban has been slapped on for two weeks, sources within the Punjab home department said, while media coverage is also prohibited in front of Adiala Jail’s gate 5.
A security officer stated that media coverage is not allowed and directed that the media teams would stay a minimum of two kilometers away from Adiala jail.
Tuesday and Thursday were reserved by the Adiala Jail administration for meetings with the PTI founder on the orders of the court, but now the meetings have been banned for two weeks.
As per sources of The Current Ali Amin Gandapur, Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a prominent leader of PTI, was supposed to meet Imran Khan on Monday but later the meeting was shifted to Tuesday. According to the souce, Jail authorities claimed that barring Gandapur from meeting Imran would create rifts between provinces and ‘it wouldn’t be a nice message across the board’.
The source said that after some hesitation, the meeting was allowed and in reaction, Maryam Nawaz, Chief Minister of Punjab and a prominent leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), retaliated and said that the jail has been converted into “Zaman Park” and this should stop.
We reached out to Marriyum Aurangzeb for a comment on this matter but we haven’t got a response yet.
Recently, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) announced the apprehension of three terrorists and the confiscation of a map of Adiala Jail, a hand grenade, and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from their possession. Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Khalid Hamdani reported the recovery of automatic weapons and ammunition from the detained individuals, who were identified as Afghan nationals.
In a separate incident last November, law enforcement discovered a suspicious bag containing an explosive device near Adiala Road in Gorakhpur, Rawalpindi, merely a kilometer away from the correctional facility.
In January, the former Prime Minister, alongside Shah Mahmood Qureshi, received a 10-year sentence in the cipher case for the unauthorized disclosure of confidential communications sent by the country’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad.
This was succeeded by a 14-year verdict imposed on Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, by an accountability court in the Toshakhana reference, for their alleged misuse of official privileges to trade gifts received during foreign visits while holding office from 2018 to 2022, collectively valued at over Rs140 million ($635,000). Additionally, the couple was fined a total of Rs1.57 billion.
After these rulings, Khan and Bushra were further sentenced to seven years in the “un-Islamic nikah” case, along with a Rs500,000 penalty each, for their marriage before the completion of the 90-day iddat period following Bushra’s divorce.
Moreover, both Khan and his spouse faced indictment in the £190 million case during the jail trial conducted at Adiala jail.
PTI and Khan’s associates have persistently urged for his release, denouncing the charges as “fabricated” and expressing concerns for his safety while incarcerated.
