Rawalpindi:
Close members of the family of Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf, Imran Khan, with militants and party supporters, were briefly detained and released on Tuesday after protesting against the refusal of their meeting with him in Adiala prison.
Among the detainees were Imran’s sister, Aleema Khan, his cousin Qasim Niazi, the head of Punjab Pti Alia Hamza and the head of the Sunni Ittehad (sic), Hamid Raza and others. The demonstrators organized a sit-in during which some PTI activists engaged in stone peels.
Adiala Prison Minister for Adiala prison and Punjab Minister Azma Bokhari rejected the allegations of PTI leaders, calling them lies. They said that the family and lawyers had been allowed to meet Imran Khan, as well as his wife, Bushra Bibi, in accordance with the planned plan.
According to the schedule, Imran should meet his lawyers and his family every Tuesday. Tensions degenerated when three of Imran’s sisters, his cousin Qasim Niazi, Alia Hamza, Hamid Raza and eight activists organized a demonstration against prison officials for not having allowed them to meet the founder of the PTI.
Speaking on this occasion, Aleema Khan said that she did not understand why they were not allowed to meet her brother. “It’s been three weeks ago; they don’t let us meet Khan. Even today, the police were deployed so that we cannot meet him,” she said.
She said they came from Lahore for the meeting. “Today is the day of our meeting, today is lawyer and we hope that lawyers will meet him.” After three hours of demonstration, they were placed in a police van and hunted.
The people gathered by the police included Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan – three sisters of Imran Khan – their cousin Qasim Niazi, besides Alia Hamza, and eight activists. Police took them to a local wedding hall and released them after 9 p.m.
On the information on the demonstrations of the sisters of the founder of the PTI, a number of party workers gathered near Adiala Road and began to sing slogans. The head of the opposition of the National Assembly Omar Ayub and the legislators, including Zartaj Gul, also joined the demonstrators to express their solidarity.
Addressing the demonstrators, Ayub said that judges should decide if they would implement their orders. He added that the founder of the PTI would not ask for any agreement or requested any leniency. “According to the law, a prisoner also has rights,” he said.
The member of the National Assembly of PTI, Zartaj Gul, said that the solution to the problems with which the country was confronted was not to portray the PTI as a terrorist. “Everyone knows that Imran Khan is innocent. We are peacefully holding up here. We ask you to allow the family to meet and put an end to this crisis.”
The demonstrators threw stones on the police when they were gathered. During the demonstration, a stone struck Mian Azhar, father of PTI Hammad Azhar. Mian Azhar was slightly injured and he was taken to the hospital. Later, the demonstrators were released by the police on Ayub’s insurance.
Meanwhile, the president of the PTI, lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, condemned detention “illegal and unconstitutional” of the three sisters of Imran. He said that the meeting with the founder of the PTI was the right of his sisters, adding that he was also ordered by a bench of three members of the High Court of Islamabad (CIC).
“It is incomprehensible why the sisters are not allowed to meet the founder of the PTI. What is the problem,” asked Gohar. “Like Bushra Bibi’s family has been authorized to meet, Imran’s family should also be allowed to meet him.
Meanwhile, lawyer Gohar and senator Pti Ali Zafar, and six other party leaders visited Imran in prison. During the meeting, according to sources, the founder of the PTI rested all his confidence in Alia Hamza and gave him the power to make decisions concerning the PTI Punjab chapter.
Hamza will be authorized to suspend any civil servant and to assign responsibility, said the sources, adding that the founder of the PTI has ordered the party president, lawyer Gohar, to make a notification concerning the responsibility of Alia Hamza.
Apart from the prison premises, the PTI chief, Mishal Yousafzai, embarked on an altercation with Gohar after being authorized to meet Imran. She said that she was among the list of these people who were to meet the founder of the PTI.
The lawyer Gohar, however, replied that the list, she was referring was false. However, Yousafzai insisted that the list given to the prison authorities by Salman Akram Raja was not false and added that Barrister Gohar and the lawyer Ali Zafar were not on this list, but they were authorized in Reunion.
Position of the prison authorities
Later, the authorities of Adiala prison said that the founder of the PTI and his wife had been authorized to meet family members and lawyers, while the founder of the PTI had also been authorized to speak with his children, Qasim Khan and Suleman Khan, by the phone via WhatsApp.
Meherunnisa family members, Mubashara Sheikh also met Bushra Bibi, while lawyer Ali Zafar Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Zaheer Abbas lawyer, Mubashar Maqsood Advocate, Razia Sultan Advocate, Ali Imran Advocate also met Imran, they said in a statement.
“The meetings of the founder of the PTI with Bushra Bibi in prison are held regularly. False and baseless propaganda according to which they were not allowed to obtain political points and nothing else. The administration of the prison firmly denies such baseless news.”
In Lahore, the Minister of Information of Punjab, Azma Bokhari, firmly denied the reports concerning the arrest of the sisters of the founder of the PTI. She said that Aleema Khan and her companions were deliberately aboard a police van and then landed by Khawaja’s service station.
“Aleema Khan and the other women mainly used Punjab police vehicle as” Uber service “, said Bokhari, adding that the truth behind this drama had been exposed by social networks and video sequences.” This whole act of the Fitna group was failed to generate sympathy. “”
(With an additional contribution from our Lahore correspondent)
