Imran | Pakistan

RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters and party workers staged a sit-in at Rawalpindi’s Factory Naka on Tuesday after they were again barred from meeting the former prime minister. Sit-ins at Factory Naka — which is a short distance away from the Adiala jail — on Tuesdays and Thursdays by PTI workers and supporters, as well as Imran’s sisters, have become a usual occurrence as they continue to be restricted from meeting the ex-premier for the past several weeks. A court order issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on March 24, 2025 mandated that meetings with Imran would be permitted twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 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. Routes to the Adiala jail were blocked on Tuesday, including at Factory Naka and Dahgal Naka, amid a large police presence. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was stopped at Dahgal...

PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar on Friday said that no dialogue could be held with the government until it allowed meetings with incarcerated party founder Imran Khan. He made the remarks while speaking alongside a delegation of the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) in Lahore, which is on a three-day visit to the city as part of the opposition’s “street movement” to hold political and social gatherings. The alliance posted on X that TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas arrived on Friday at a gathering held at the residence of Advocate Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, where a large number of journalists, political leaders and PTI workers were present. Speaking during the gathering, PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar welcomed the TTAP delegation to Lahore. He urged the TTAP to use its platform to push for a meeting with Imran, who has not been allowed visitors in recent weeks. “No talks or dialogue can start until meetings are allowed with Imran,” he said. Zafar assured the TT...

Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Thursday urged political leaders and workers to take to the streets and observe a complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strike, while talking to reporters outside Imran’s Zaman Park residence. A TTAP delegation, led by Achakzai, departed from Islamabad to Lahore earlier today as part of the opposition’s “street movement” to hold political and social gatherings in the provincial capital. “Slogans alone will not help release PTI founder Imran Khan from jail, but people rising up on February 8 and bringing the country to a standstill will,” he said. The TTAP chief — flanked by Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Moeen Riaz Qureshi — was speaking to the media after the arrival of the opposition alliance’s caravan in Lahore. They faced obstacles such as interference by law enforcement agencies, vandalism of vehicles belonging to party leaders and supporters, and even arrests. ...

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said on Thursday that negotiations with the federal government would not take place if party founder Imran Khan is not present. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, Raja said that the party’s stance on talks is very clear: “You cannot come into our house, attack us, loot us and then invite us for negotiations. “Give us an agenda, tell us what topics will be discussed,” he added. “We cannot negotiate in Imran Khan’s absence. You cannot expect to put him in a black hole while everyone else talks and the PM eats biscuits. It will not happen like that.” Raja continued, recounting that between December 2024 and January 2025, they wanted to meet Imran and have him present at the talks, but that was not authorised. He added that judicial probes into the riots on May 9, 2023, and the PTI’s Islamabad march on November 26, 2024, were also denied. “The plan seems to be an effort to bury the attack on voters on February 8, 2024, and move on from it,” the party official cl...

The sisters of incarcerated PTI leader Imran Khan and party supporters ended their sit-in near Adiala jail late on Tuesday after being given assurances of a meeting with the ex-premier being arranged next week. In a video posted by Tehreek-i-Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on the social media platform X, Imran’s sister Aleema said that Mahmood Khan Achakzai had informed them that a meeting would be arranged next week. Achakzai is the head of the TTAP opposition alliance and chairman of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party. “This is what he reassured us about, that a meeting will be arranged next week,” Aleema said, as she looked at Achakzai, who was standing next to her along with Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) leader Allama Raja Nasir. Achakzai and Nasir had arrived at the site of the protest earlier on Tuesday. “Achakzai sahib has said that because they are saying a meeting will be arranged next week, today we should disperse ourselves before the water cannons show up. That is his advice,” she said. Recently,...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Sunday clarified that his “only stance” was to implement PTI founder Imran Khan’s directives to run his province and prepare for the party’s street movement. Afridi had previously announced that Karachi was his next destination for galvanising party supporters after he concluded his three-day visit to Lahore, where he also met with the families of jailed senior PTI leaders. In a post on social media platform X earlier today, the KP chief minister said, “I have only one stance. My leader (Imran) has directed me to prepare for a street movement, along with running the administrative affairs of my province. “God-willing, I will implement them in letter and spirit. Any other news attributed to me would be someone’s personal assumption,” he added. About his upcoming visit to Karachi, CM Afridi said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, “respecting democratic values and his office’s dignity”, has invited him for a meeting. Afridi said he had thanked Murad for the in...

With the political impasse continuing among the country’s main stakeholders, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had not imposed any “minus Imran” condition on political engagement. A day earlier, the premier’s adviser had proposed “confidence-building measures” between the leadership of the PML-N, the PTI, and the PPP could bring down political temperatures. “Prime Minister Shehbaz has not set any condition of minus Imran Khan [from politics]. We neither seek to minus anyone nor consider it politically viable. Similar efforts were made to sideline us in the past,” Sanaullah said while speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan. As the leader of the House, PM Shehbaz has offered negotiations to the opposition, saying they [PTI] should sit with him as dialogue is key to parliamentary democracy, Sanaullah added. Maintaining that the opposition PTI had to take a step forward, the senior PML-N leader said that dialogue on behalf of the p...

With the political impasse continuing among the country’s main stakeholders, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had not imposed any “minus Imran” condition on political engagement. A day earlier, the premier’s adviser had proposed “confidence-building measures” between the leadership of the PML-N, the PTI, and the PPP could bring down political temperatures. “Prime Minister Shehbaz has not set any condition of minus Imran Khan [from politics]. We neither seek to minus anyone nor consider it politically viable. Similar efforts were made to sideline us in the past,” Sanaullah said while speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan. As the leader of the House, PM Shehbaz has offered negotiations to the opposition, saying they [PTI] should sit with him as dialogue is key to parliamentary democracy, Sanaullah added. Maintaining that the opposition PTI had to take a step forward, the senior PML-N leader said that dialogue on behalf of the p...

PTI leaders were once again denied a meeting with incarcerated party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday, as party leaders lamented the restrictions and said the government should have “shown a big heart”. A court order issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on March 24 mandated that meetings with Imran will be permitted twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, the PTI maintains that the order is not being honoured. The party has staged sit-ins near the prison to demand a meeting with the party founder, with one earlier this week dispersed with water cannons. “I was hoping that, considering the offer of talks by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the first day of the new year, the government would allow us to meet PTI’s founding chairman,“ said Muhammad Jamal Khan, a member of the National Assembly (MNA) while talking to Dawn. “It could have been the first step towards creating national harmony and ending the tense political environment, but the government lost that chance.” On ...

Imran, Bibi challenge Toshakhana-II conviction

The PTI has said that it will not engage in negotiations with the federal government. Party Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said the stance was taken following the instructions of party founder Imran Khan. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated his offer for talks with the opposition but also emphasised that dialogue between the two sides could only proceed on “legitimate matters”. Later that day, Akram appeared on ARY News programme ‘The 11th Hour’, where he was asked if the PTI wants to negotiate with the government. He categorically said that the party was “not interested” in talks. “I met Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and he said that Imran instructed the party not to engage with the government in any way,“ Akram explained. “He also ordered that if anyone approaches Achakzai sahib or Allama Raja Nasir sahib for any matter, they have the authority to decide whether or not they want to talk,” he added, referring to Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) leaders Mahmood Khan Ach...

PTI founder Imran Khan‘s sisters — Aleema Khan, Noreen Khan Niazi and Uzma Khan — ended their sit-in and left Rawalpindi’s Factory Naka on Tuesday night, hours after they were again barred from moving towards Adiala jail in a bid to meet the incarcerated ex-premier. Over the past several weeks, the PTI founder has been denied meetings in prison with his family, party members and lawyers, prompting them to stage sit-ins near or outside the prison complex every Tuesday and Thursday — the court-mandated days for visiting Imran. At times, police also used water cannons and baton charges to disperse them. A Dawn correspondent said that the PTI founder’s sisters left Factory Naka at around 9:30pm and moved towards Gorakhpur on foot, before heading home. Meanwhile, traffic resumed on the thoroughfare as soon as the 6-hour sit-in ended. Half an hour before that, the Saddar police station house officer arrived at the protest site and began negotiations with PTI’s Shaukat Basra and Meena Khan Afridi. After initial talk...

The sons of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, Kasim and Sulaiman, have stated that their father is being kept in isolation in jail, stating that these were “clear torture tactics”. The two made the remarks in an interview with British journalist Mehdi Hasan, a four-minute preview of which is available to the public on Zeteo’s website. The full interview is behind a pay wall. As court-ordered prison visits stay blocked, Imran’s family and party have expressed concerns about the conditions in which he is being kept inside the prison. A United Nations’ special rapporteur has also warned that Imran is being held in conditions that could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment. In the interview with Hasan, Kasim and Sulaiman, were asked about the government’s claims of treating Imran like a “prince” during his incarceration. “Couldn’t be less true,” replied Kasim. He said that Imran was being held in a cell that was six by eight, “barely enough to stand”. “The conditions are awful. He is washing himself in bro...

PTI members, including former KP minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, protested the denial of meetings with party founder and ex-premier Imran Khan outside Adiala jail on Thursday. Water cannons were used early on Wednesday to disperse PTI leaders and protesters staging a sit-in near Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, after his family was denied a 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. Jhagra was accompanied by PTI leaders, including Aftab Alam, Adnan Qadri, Pir Musavir Khan, Muhammad Israr and Liaqat Ali Khan. They were stopped at the Dahgali checkpoint on their way to the prison and staged a sit-in on the spot. However, they quietly gathered and left after a period of time. Jhagra wrote in a post on X: “870 unique meetings supposedly, but today was the 60th Thursday in a row when no one was allowed t...

PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan Niazi — are among 400 people booked on Wednesday after police dispersed a sit-in near Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where the party founder and former prime minister is currently incarcerated. Moreover, 14 PTI workers were arrested and produced before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) today, which approved three days of physical remand and returned the suspects to police custody. Imran’s sisters, party workers and supporters had staged a sit-in at Factory Naka a day prior, demanding their court-mandated Tuesday meeting with the PTI founder. Police used water cannons and baton charges to disperse the protesters, with police starting their operation at 2am. According to a copy of the first information report (FIR) — dated December 17 and available with Dawn — 400 suspects, including 35 nominated persons, were booked under various provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (ATA) and Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including the use of petrol bombs and ...

PTI founder Imran Khan’s son Kasim Khan has said he and his brother Suleiman have applied for their visas and are planning a trip to Pakistan in January, while also commenting on the conditions in which the ex-premier was kept and saying that he was being held in a “death cell”. The remarks were made during an interview to Yalda Hakim for Sky News, which came as another sit-in held outside Adiala jail by Imran’s sisters over being denied a meeting with him was dispersed using water cannons; the party alleged that authorities used “chemical-laced” water. As court-ordered prison visits stay blocked, Imran’s family and party have expressed concerns about the conditions in which he is being kept inside the prison. A United Nations’ special rapporteur has also warned that Imran is being held in conditions that could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment. During their interview with Hakim, released early on Wednesday, Kasim and Suleiman, who live in London, were asked whether they had tried to engage with the Pa...

PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters, party workers and supporters are continuing their sit-in past midnight 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. Late on Tuesday night, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas arrived at the protest site and began one-on-one consultations with PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raj...

The PTI on Saturday expressed grave concern over a report issued by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, saying it exposed the “degrading treatment” of party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan during his incarceration at Adiala Jail and amounted to a “blatant violation of international law and fundamental human rights.” The report, released on Friday, claimed the PTI founder is being held in conditions that could “amount to inhuman or degrading treatment and called on authorities to comply with international norms and standards.” In a statement issued by PTI’s Central Media Department, the party said the UN report unequivocally confirmed what it has consistently maintained for a long time: that Imran Khan was being subjected to “inhuman, unlawful, and degrading treatment motivated entirely by political vendetta.” The PTI asserted that the report reaffirmed Imran’s 23 hours of solitary confinement, constant CCTV surveillance, isolation from the outside world, obstruct...

A United Nations’ (UN) special rapporteur warned on Friday that PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in conditions that could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment, calling on Pakistani authorities to comply with international norms and standards. In September, his legal team approached the rapporteur to urge the Pakistani government to cease the alleged mistreatment of the couple. Prime Minister’s Aide Rana Ihsan Afzal, however, dismissed the concerns of the UN rapporteur and said Imran was being kept “according to prison rules and the jail manual”. “His children have access and he should schedule [a call] and put in the appropriate request. There is no issue or obstacle from the government of Pakistan,” said the premier’s aide. He added that the PTI founder is being provided facilities “greater than his rights” as a B-class prisoner. “He has the facilities of exercise available, good food is available and ample space is also available.” The UN official, Alice Jill Edwards, urged...

A sit-in led by Aleema Khan, the sister of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, continued on Tuesday night near Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail after she was once again denied a meeting with the ex-premier. The sit-in continued into the night, with party leaders and supporters present on Adiala road as of midnight. Senior party members, including PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and PTI KP Provincial President Junaid Akbar Khan, also joined the demonstration earlier tonight. The PTI has made multiple attempts to meet the incarcerated party founder, being denied an audience each time by jail authorities despite a court order allowing meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, last week, the authorities allowed Uzma Khan, another one of Imran’s sisters, to meet her incarcerated brother. After the visit, she said he was “perfectly fine”. Speaking in video statements as she made her way to the prison today, Aleema alleged that the state had been breaking the law, while maintaining that the PTI had done nothing ...