K-P CM announces overnight sit-in as PTI leaders again denied access to Imran Khan

RAWALPINDI:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Thursday were once again denied permission to meet the party founder outside Adiala Jail, prompting the former to announce that he would spend the night at the site in protest.

Afridi and the party leadership held a meeting near the factory checkpoint after the allotted visiting hours ended. They resolved to stage a sit-in on Adiala Road throughout the night until the founder was allowed to meet with his personal doctors, family members, and legal counsel.

The CM also instructed that all provincial assembly members be summoned to the site to strengthen the demand for the founder’s access, while the police blocked Adiala Road, preventing any access to the facility.

Speaking to the media at the checkpoint, Afridi expressed deep concern over the founder’s health, noting that he had been secretly transferred from jail to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Saturday.

“My leader was shifted from jail to hospital on Saturday night. The question is: why did his health deteriorate to the point that he had to be taken to hospital? Why was his illness hidden? Why was his family not informed about his health? If the situation was so serious, why were we not told? Why was his personal doctor not taken into confidence? Why has this been concealed from Saturday until today and what are the motives behind it?” he questioned.

He described the concealment of the founder’s health status as “medical terrorism” and said the incident represented a violation of fundamental human rights. He demanded that the party founder be allowed to meet his family, party leaders and lawyers, saying the meetings were necessary to prevent the situation from becoming more serious.

Afridi said the founder had already survived an attempt on his life and criticised authorities for allegedly taking decisions regarding treatment without family consent. “We do not trust these people at all. The founder is being held unjustly. There has already been an attempt on his life. This has been done without informing the family,” he said, adding that the nation will not accept this mockery of his life.

Afridi urged the media to raise its voice over the party founder’s condition, saying he was “deeply concerned” and that “the whole nation is angry” about the situation.

Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said, under an Islamabad High Court order, party members have the right to meet the founder.

He said the party had submitted a list of authorised individuals to jail authorities, all of whom were present at the site. “Today we are filled with concern and anger. The basic requirements of humanity have been trampled,” he said.

He criticised the administration for violating basic humanitarian norms, highlighting that the secret hospital transfer deprived the founder’s family and personal doctors of the right to be present during treatment.

“We have decided that we will hold a sit-in on Adiala Road throughout the night until the founder is allowed to meet his personal doctors, family members and lawyers,” he told reporters at the factory checkpoint.

Raja asserted that on Saturday night the founder was taken “secretly” from jail to PIMS, reiterating that even his family was not informed. He said it was the duty of jail authorities to inform the family so that relatives and the leader’s personal physician could be present.

He said the party would not accept what he described as taking the founder to a hospital of the authorities’ choosing “in the darkness of night” and administering treatment without transparency. He alleged that government ministers denied the hospital transfer for six days but were now forced to acknowledge it.

“We have come today and we will not return without meeting the founder,” Raja said, adding, “This is the founder’s human right. We are standing here today, and we tell the nation that oppression and barbarity are taking place here.

Taking to X, PTI founder’s sister Aleema Khan said, “We must remain focused on implementing Imran Khan’s directions. Our family dont just want a meeting with Imran Khan, we are demanding his immediate RELEASE from illegal imprisonment and solitary confinement.”

She added, “When the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court is deliberately obstructing Imran Khan’s access to justice and consequently, his freedom, we are left with no choice but to exercise our constitutional right to collective protest and apply sustained pressure to secure his release.”

Earlier on Thursday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that Imran Khan was briefly taken to the PIMS for medical treatment. According to the minister, doctors at PIMS conducted another examination of Khan’s eyes and, after obtaining his written consent, carried out a minor medical procedure that lasted around 20 minutes.

Following the procedure, Khan was shifted back to Adiala Jail along with the necessary medical instructions, Tarar said, adding that his vital signs remained stable throughout and his overall health was satisfactory. “He is absolutely healthy,” he said. He added that prisoners are provided access to medical facilities and specialist care whenever required, in line with jail rules.

Rejecting rumours circulating on social media about Khan’s condition, Tarar said claims that the former prime minister’s health was serious were false. “Alhamdulillah, he is completely fine,” he said, reiterating that the hospital visit was solely for a minor eye-related procedure carried out on medical advice.

Read More: Adiala road paralyses as PTI stages sit-in over blocked visit to ex-PM

On Wednesday, senior PTI leaders and allied parties held a joint press conference, raising alarm over what they described as the continued denial of access to the jailed former prime minister, a day after reports surfaced that he was suffering from an eye infection.

“The last meeting with Imran Khan took place on December 20, after which party officials and family members have not been allowed to meet him,” PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said at the press conference. He added that a petition had been filed in court seeking permission to meet Khan, but approval had not yet been granted.

Speaking to a private news channel on Thursday, Tarar said eye specialists had examined Khan at Adiala Jail and advised that he be shifted to Pims for further assessment and treatment. Acting on the doctors’ recommendations, Tarar said, Khan was taken to the hospital on Saturday night.

In December 2025, the Islamabad Capital Territory administration and Rawalpindi district administration had imposed Section 144 across the cities in the wake of the PTI protest announced outside Adiala Jail and the Islamabad High Court tomorrow.

A spokesman for the ICT administration confirmed the enforcement of Section 144, which restricts all forms of public gatherings, demonstrations, and rallies. “No individual or group will be allowed to organise protests or hold any public events under these restrictions,” the spokesman said.

However, a scheduled family and legal meeting with Imran Khan at Adiala Jail a week later ended without any visitation, triggering a prolonged protest sit-in outside the prison by his sisters and senior party leaders, as authorities locked down the area under sweeping security measures.

Reacting to the situation, Prime Minister’s Adviser Rana Sanaullah said the government may consider shifting the PTI founder to another prison if the protests outside Adiala Jail continue to disrupt public life and become a regular occurrence.

Due to the relentless sit-ins from the founder’s sisters, a terrorism case was registered against them, along with senior party figures and 400 others.

The FIR, lodged at Saddar Bairuni police station in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, invokes sections 7 and 21(I) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and the Pakistan Penal Code. Police said the protesters had staged a sit-in on Kachehri Road near the prison despite restrictions on public gatherings imposed under Section 144.

According to the FIR, the case named Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, alongside PTI leaders, Qasim Khan, Salman Akram Raja and Aliya Hamza. Others nominated included Naeem Panjotha, Tabish Farooq, Tayyaba Raja, Nadia Khattak, Haroon, Raja Asad Abbas, Zafar Gondal and Shafqat Abbas.

However, the three sisters once again staged a protest sit-in that led to the blocking of parts of Adiala Road after being denied permission to meet the former prime minister at Adiala Jail a week later. The weekly protest followed prison authorities’ refusal to allow meetings between the PTI founder and his sisters as well as party leaders and other family members.