Police on Tuesday once again used water cannons to disperse a sit-in staged near Adiala Jail by the sisters and supporters of incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, briefly detaining the protesters before releasing them near the Chakri Interchange.
Khan’s sisters, Aleema, Noreen and Uzma, have been staging sit-ins near Adiala every Tuesday since Dec. 2 when Uzma was last permitted to meet the former prime minister. There have been no meetings allowed since then, despite court orders allowing two meetings a week with Khan—family and lawyers on Tuesdays and friends on Thursdays. The government has defended its actions by maintaining the family members have been availing the meetings for political purposes in violation of prison rules. It also claims the court orders have specifically barred any political discussion.
Sharing videos on its official X accounts, the PTI said police sprayed water cannons on the protesters after they refused to disperse until the sisters were allowed to meet Khan. “In the severe cold, an attack with water cannons was carried out on unarmed, peaceful children, women, and citizens,” it said. A separate post by the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Ain Pakistan reiterated allegations of the water containing “chemicals.”
According to the opposition alliance, Khan’s sisters, TTAP spokesperson Akhunzada Hussain Yousafzai, PTI MNA Shahid Khattak, PTI lawyer Khalid Yousuf and a few dozen other protesters were taken into custody before being released at Chakri Interchange.
Earlier, Aleema claimed to media the TTAP had not sought any dialogue with the government and was merely responding to the offer of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. She also maintained that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was preparing for a parallel “street movement” in accordance with the instructions of the incarcerated Khan.
Separately, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan lamented that meetings continued to be denied despite court orders. He blamed both “our people” and the “state” for the situation, adding he believed dialogue was the only way forward. However, seemingly rebutting him, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said any talks would be “meaningless” as the government had shown any “seriousness.”