KP CM announces overnight sit-in as PTI leaders again denied entry to Imran Khan

RAWALPINDI:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders were once again denied permission to meet the party’s founder outside Adiala jail, prompting the former to announce that he would spend the night there in protest, officials said on Thursday.

Afridi and the party leadership held a meeting near the factory check post after the allotted visiting hours ended. They decided to stage an all-night sit-in on Adiala Road until the founder is allowed to meet with his personal doctors, family members and legal advisers.

The CM also directed that all provincial assembly members be summoned to the site to strengthen the demand for the founder’s entry, 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 and noted that he had been secretly transferred from the jail to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Saturday.

“My manager was moved from prison to hospital on Saturday night. The question is: why did his health deteriorate to the point that he had to be hospitalized? Why was his illness hidden? Why was his family not informed of 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 hidden from Saturday until today?” he asked.

He described the concealment of the founder’s health status as “medical terrorism” and said the incident represented a violation of basic 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 escalating.

Afridi said the founder had already survived an attempt on his life and criticized authorities for allegedly making treatment decisions without the family’s consent. “We do not trust these people at all. The founder is being detained 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 their voice over the party founder’s condition, saying he was “deeply concerned” and that “the entire nation is angry” over the situation.

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

He said the party had submitted a list of authorized persons to the jail authorities, all of whom were present at the spot. “Today we are filled with worry and anger. The basic demands of humanity have been trampled,” he said.

He criticized 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’s check post.

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

He said the party would not accept what he described as taking the founder to a hospital of the authorities’ choice “in the dark of night” and administering treatment without transparency. He claimed 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 are telling the nation that oppression and barbarism are taking place here.

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

After the procedure, Khan was shifted back to Adiala jail along with necessary medical instructions, Tarar said, adding that his vital signs remained stable throughout and his general health was satisfactory. “He’s absolutely healthy,” he said. He added that prisoners are given access to medical facilities and specialist care when necessary, in accordance with prison rules.

Dismissing rumors 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 absolutely fine,” he said, reiterating that the hospital visit was purely for a minor eye-related procedure performed on medical advice.

Read more: Adiala road paralyzes as PTI holds sit-in over blocked visit of former prime minister

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 emerged 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 an application had been made to the court seeking permission to meet Khan, but the 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 recommended that he be shifted to Pims for further assessment and treatment. Following doctors’ recommendations, Tarar said, Khan was rushed 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 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 organize protests or hold public events under these restrictions,” the spokesman said.

However, a planned family and legal meeting with Imran Khan at Adiala prison a week later ended without attendance, sparking a prolonged protest sit-in outside the prison by his sisters and senior party leaders as authorities locked down the area under heavy security.

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

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

The FIR, lodged at the 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 jail despite restrictions on public gatherings imposed under Section 144.

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

But the three sisters once again staged a protest sit-in that led to the blockade of parts of Adiala Road after they were denied permission to meet the former prime minister in Adiala jail a week later. The week-long protest followed the refusal of prison authorities to allow meetings between the PTI founder and his sisters as well as party leaders and other family members.