The PTI said late on Tuesday that police manhandled and “violently detained” the sisters of ex-premier Imran Khan from outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where they were camped out after being denied a weekly meeting with the party founder.
The PTI had held a protest outside the jail on Tuesday, where Imran is currently incarcerated, but the jail administration did not allow party leaders and the PTI founder’s family to meet him. Subsequently, the party held a sit-in outside the jail and criticised the prison administration for violating the court order in this regard.
In a post on social media platform X after midnight, the party said Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Dr Uzma Khan were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when the police action happened.
It added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Minister Meena Khan Afridi, MNA Shahid Khattak and other party workers, including several women, were “subjected to violence and picked up by police”.
“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,” the party said.
Videos shared by the party on social media platform X showed workers, Aleema and Uzma gathered around Noreen, who appeared visibly shaken. “Those women were dragging [her] on the road,” Aleema said as Noreen’s hands trembled.
In a later video shared by the party, Noreen said that female police officials grabbed her by her hair and forced her down to the ground. “I didn’t understand it. I still don’t understand what happened,” she said, asserting that PTI workers were sitting peacefully outside the jail.
Aleema said that at one point, Noreen was “practically unconscious” as she was dragged on the floor. “Thank goodness we saw and managed to set her free,” she said.
She also asserted that the incident would not “scare us”, adding that a press conference would be held later. “The way the women dragged us, ripped away our chaddors … they should be ashamed.”
Aleema also alleged that her and her sisters were denied a meeting with Imran as “Asim Munir’s notification has not yet been signed”.
In another post, the party condemned the “inhumane, unlawful, and disgraceful treatment” of Imran’s family members. It said that the PTI founder’s sisters, along with his legal team, had arrived at the jail to meet him on Tuesday but were denied the meeting and forced to wait until night.
“By 10pm, despite spending twelve hours under severe distress, the Punjab government ordered an appalling operation that no civilised or democratic society could ever justify,” the PTI said.
It alleged that the area where Imran’s sisters were seated was “intentionally flooded with water”.
“The lights were switched off to plunge the entire place into darkness, and in the ensuing chaos, police physically assaulted Imran Khan’s sisters Aleema Khan, Noreen Khan and Uzma Khan,” it added.
It further said that one of the sisters was dragged “across the road, manhandled, and violently detained despite her cries and the pleas of those present”.
“This level of state oppression and cruelty represents an unprecedented assault on basic human dignity, constitutional freedoms, and moral norms,” it said.
Meanwhile, a senior Rawalpindi police official told Dawn that no action was taken against the PTI protesters. He said that they were only removed from the road they were occupying.
‘Our collective humiliation’
KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi condemned the police action against Imran’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, adding that things were now progressing to a point of no return.
“This is today’s Pakistan — where the sanctity of a woman’s veil is violated. The sisters’ only fault was that they came to meet their brother,” said ex-president Arif Alvi.
“With every crime, the usurpers feel more and more immune. Abductions, arrests, raids, military court trials, rigged elections, amendments — all are connected. Every time they get away with no accountability, they feel more immune. Every time the bureaucracy, media, and judiciary, instead of resisting falls in line, they are emboldened,” said activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir.
He said that the Iddat case against Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi, the recent discourse on an article published by The Economist about the couple and the manhandling of the PTI founder’s sister all served one purpose: to humiliate.
“It is a fallacy to think this is Imran Khan’s or PTI’s humiliation alone. It is our collective humiliation. We are all being shown the price of dissent, the price of seeking justice, demanding democracy, and resisting oppression,” he said.
Senior journalist Hamid Mir said that the current regime was not realising that the “inhumane and disgraceful treatment” of Imran’s family was tarnishing the country’s image globally.
“It’s becoming difficult for our diplomats serving in the West to defend at public forums,” he said.
Journalist Shahzad Iqbal termed the “dragging and manhandling [of] Imran Khan’s elderly sisters” a “shameless act of oppression”.
A day ago, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz “was saying we don’t indulge in politics or revenge and victimisation, and then imagine this happening in her provincial jurisdiction,” Iqbal added.
“Which Pakistan is this? What humanity is this?” asked Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen’s Allama Raja Nasir Abbas. He said that the police action against Imran’s sisters was a “slap in the face of humanity and an example of the worst abuse of state power”.
“Those who lay their hands on women are neither worthy of being called Muslims nor Pakistanis,” he said.
PTI firebrand leader Sher Afzal Marwat condemned the treatment meted out to Noreen.
“Such brutality against a citizen — let alone a woman — is unacceptable. The state has reached a new low, and this abuse of power must end!” he said.
PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari said police had demonstrated “highly despicable behaviour” by attacking Imran’s sisters.
“We strongly condemn this disgraceful and unjustifiable act by the police,” he said.
