The Punjab government on Tuesday imposed a two-week ban on all public visits, meetings and interviews at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail citing “security” threats — a move decried by PTI leaders, who deemed it a deliberate plan to stop them from meeting party founder Imran Khan, who is currently incarcerated at the facility.
In a letter written to the Punjab prisons chief, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the Punjab Home Department said its Internal Security Wing conveyed that “there exist different types of threats to [the] security of Adiala jail as some anti-state terrorist groups supported by the enemies of Pakistan have planned to conduct targeted attacks”.
“As a security measure against the aforementioned attacks”, the department requested the prison chief to “stop the public visits/meetings/interviews within the Adiala Jail immediately for two weeks”.
The decision was taken days after the Rawalpindi Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the police foiled what they claimed was an attempt to attack the jail, arresting three terrorists.
Besides Imran, fellow senior PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Parvez Elahi are also detained at the Adiala jail.
Other PTI leaders, who were denied a meeting with Imran due to the ban, assailed the Punjab government.
Barrister Salman Safdar told Dawn.com, “Yes, we had to go today [but] we could not meet. It is banned due to security reasons.”
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said, “They have imposed a kind of blanket restriction for two weeks and the excuse made was that there is a terror threat. We strongly condemn this blanket ban.
“We demand that before imposing this, his (Imran’s) family members and lawyers should have been informed,” he added.
Recalling “two assassination attempts” on Imran, Gohar said, “Caging him all of a sudden is an indication that Khan sahib’s life is in danger.”
Speaking to the media outside the Adiala jail, National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan said he and other PTI lawmakers were “not being allowed to meet him (Imran) despite court orders”.
“They have imposed this ban for two weeks. We condemn this,” he added.
Ayub said, “The Punjab home secretary should be ashamed. So-called, unconstitutional and illegal chief minister Maryam Nawaz should be ashamed because this bar has been placed under her watch.”
Using the same terms, the PTI MNA said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and newly sworn-in Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who had been serving as the caretaker Punjab CM until recently, “should be ashamed” as well.
Adding that the reason given was a “security threat”, the NA opposition leader said the party condemned the “ban in its strongest terms”.
Highlighting that today was his third visit to the jail but he was denied a meeting with Imran, the PTI secretary general expressed concern for the former premier’s safety.
Ayub also noted that the date for the Senate elections had been announced, which needed to be discussed with Imran but “the corrupt government is creating obstacles in it”.
Terming it a “bogus ban”, Ayub said the law did not allow such a ban and highlighted that the jail’s superintendent was not present there.
“I called the assistant superintendent — that he come and talk to us and tell us — and he ran away,” the PTI MNA claimed.
Stating that the jail staff was “refusing” to appear in front of the PTI leaders, Ayub asserted that the party “would call them in the National Assembly” to question them about the matter.
Echoing his statements from yesterday about summoning the police to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the PTI secretary general said, “We will get our partners of the PAC in the Punjab Assembly to probe the expenses of Adiala Jail and its officers’ corruption.”
Ayub said that according to a court order, if PTI members were not allowed to meet Imran, a fine of Rs25,000 was liable to be imposed on the staff by the jail authorities.
PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said the “blanket ban on meetings” with Imran was a “criminal act, which reflects the extent of fear the unconstitutional & illegal government of Punjab & their handlers suffer from”.
In a post on X, he said the bar would be challenged in the court of law, expressing hope that immediate relief would be provided and that the provincial government would be “instructed to desist from repeating such draconian measures”.
“[Imran] Khan cannot be wished away by unleashing state fascism. The more the perpetrators try to do so, the more powerful Khan becomes. He rules the hearts,” he added.
PTI MNA Sher Afzal Marwat said the ex-premier faced a “prohibition against receiving visitors in Adiala Jail during the inaugural day of the sacred month of Ramazan”.
In a post on X, Marwat said the “expulsion of media personnel from the premises of Adiala Jail constitutes a measure starkly at odds with democratic principles”. “We vehemently denounce this dictatorial maneuver,” he added.
“We are resolved to contest this suppression, ensuring that this grievance is pursued with vigor across all political platforms, including the hallowed halls of Parliament,” the PTI MNA asserted.
