Police late on Tuesday night resorted to water cannons to disperse a sit-in staged outside Adiala Jail by the sisters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters, several of whom were arrested for resisting the operation.
Khan’s sisters Aleema, Noreen and Uzma had staged the sit-in to protest against denial of permission to meet their brother at Adiala Jail. The development was not unexpected, as government ministers had last week warned there would be no more meetings with Khan as prison rules barred political discussions. They also warned that there would be zero tolerance for any further attempts to hamper security outside Adiala.
Rebutting their criticisms, Aleema told journalists outside Adiala that the message shared by Khan with Uzma last week was “not political,” as it pertained to Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and not any politicians.
PTI leaders, apart from a few notable exceptions such as Salman Akram Raja and Junaid Akbar, mostly ignored the hours-long sit-in. Former senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, however, reached the site to express solidarity with the PTI founder’s sisters. As the protesters gathered at the checkpoint, Aleema repeatedly urged PTI workers to remain calm and not pick any fights with the police.
Ahead of the dispersal action, police had sought to convince the sisters to end their sit-in, noting the official meeting hours had ended. They also seized several private and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government vehicles and shifted them to police stations. Following the sisters’ refusal, however, police initiated their dispersal action around 2 a.m.
“This brutal crackdown on a peaceful sit-in violates basic human rights and freedom of assembly in freezing weather!” lamented the party on its official X account, sharing a video of the water cannon being used as protesters fled the scene.
Earlier, speaking with journalists after being denied a meeting with Khan, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan warned that rising tensions could push the country into turmoil. Politics, he said, should not turn into enmity, nor should political opponents resort to “derogatory language.” He also claimed that if allowed to meet Khan, the PTI leadership would strive to defuse tensions and restore calm.