Lahore:
Survivors in a cell intended for death series – where former Prime Minister Imran Khan is even denied a book, TV or a properly cooked meal – his determination has only become stronger, according to a letter from his wife. The letter was conveyed through a party source that had recently interacted with her in Adiala Prison.
Bushra Begum said in his message written through notes remembered by the party source, Imran Khan was limited to a space designated to those awaiting execution. The suffocating space contained a single bed and a small laundry room in the corner, which did not leave room to move and some air to breathe. For 18 hours a day, she said, he was locked inside that room, all alone.
“Imagine a man who once led a nation that is now limited to a space that is so narrow that it stripes away the very feeling of being,” she was quoted as saying.
According to her, the guards have been asked not to talk to him. “Even if you try to make eye contact, they lower their gaze as if they have been ordered not to interact with him. It is deliberate isolation intended to interrupt all human connection,” she claimed.
Bushra also claimed that food had been transformed into a torment. Uneducated chefs were tasked with preparing his meals, only to be replaced when they began to understand his needs. When he turned to TV for a short distraction, it was taken away. Books were also denied. What was left, she said, was “total insulation, total silence.”
She added that Imran Khan awaits every Tuesday with the hope of a meeting with her. “He prepares himself and thinks we will talk, even if it is only for a few minutes. Yet week after week, at the last minute, the meeting is canceled. The fragile hope rises, only to be crushed over and over.”
The same pattern, she claimed, applies to his legal matters. Hearings are scheduled with expectation but exposed or canceled for no reason. Sometimes lawyers from his defense team are denied access, while others without a direct role in the cases are allowed instead.
“This is not just imprisonment. It is the mental torture of the highest order. It is a systematic attempt to break a man’s spirit,” she said.
But, she wrote, cruelty cannot defeat faith. “As the difficulties increase, Allah’s blessings also do. With every act of injustice, Imran Khan’s determination becomes stronger. With every moment of suffering, love and support from the people elaborate. His spirit increases, even if they try to limit his body.”
Bushra described the situation as a dark chapter in the history of the country, “one that not only tests my husband but all of us.” She wrote that Imran Khan endures this ordeal with patience and unshakable belief.
