The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday claimed police manhandled former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sisters outside Adiala Jail while they were staging a sit-in over being denied a weekly meeting with him.
Per court orders, Khan is permitted two weekly meetings—with family and lawyers on Tuesdays and friends on Thursdays. For the past two weeks, this right has been denied, with the sisters pledging to not leave the venue on Tuesday until they were allowed to see their brother.
In a post on X, the PTI claimed Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when the police conducted a raid, subjecting the women, several party workers and ministers of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to “violence.” It said they were subsequently detained by police before being released some distance away.
“What should be routine weekly court-mandated family visits, in accordance with Imran Khan’s rights as a prisoner, are being used as a tool of oppression and violence against his family members and supporters,” said the party, sharing videos showing a visibly shaken Noreen surrounded by her sisters and other party workers.
“Those [police] women were dragging [her] on the road,” Aleema claimed. In a subsequent video, Noreen alleged women police officers had forced her to ground. Aleema emphasized that such tactics would not deter them, reiterating allegations of being denied a meeting because of Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
According to the PTI, police “flooded” the area where Khan’s sisters were seated and turned off all lights prior to taking action against the three sisters. “This level of state oppression and cruelty represents an unprecedented assault on basic human dignity, constitutional freedoms, and moral norms,” it said.
In a separate video statement, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said it was pointless to condemn, warning that the party would not forget such tactics.
KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, in a posting on X, condemned the police action against Khan’s sisters and a member of his cabinet. “The attempt to arrest MNA Shahid Khattak and other provincial and national assembly members is also condemnable,” he said, warning conditions were progressing to a point of no return.