Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, in a letter to his counterpart in Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, has raised concerns over the alleged manhandling of PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters by police and the obstruction of the incarcerated ex-premier’s visitation rights.
The development comes after Afridi on Thursday was denied access to meet Imran for a seventh time. Further, two days ago police had allegedly manhandled and “violently detained” Imran’s sisters from outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where they were camped out after being denied a weekly meeting with him.
The letter, which was shared by the PTI on social media platform X early on Friday, said that Afridi wished to draw Maryam’s attention to “serious concerns” regarding the “administration of court-mandated visitation rights” of Imran and the recent treatment of his family members.
“Clear and binding judicial directions govern Imran’s visitation schedule. These orders explicitly permit his close family members and nominated individuals to meet him on specified days. Despite the unambiguous nature of these instructions, repeated reports indicate persistent non-implementation by the authorities responsible for compliance,” Afridi said.
He also termed accounts of the “inappropriate and rough treatment” of Imran’s sisters during a recent attempt to visit him as “particularly disturbing”.
“These individuals are apolitical private citizens, seeking only to meet their brother in accordance with court permissions. Even if restrictions were to exist for political visitors — which is a different category altogether — there is no conceivable legal or administrative basis for obstructing or mishandling immediate family members whose presence is neither political nor disruptive in nature,” the KP chief minister said.
“Their obstruction, physical restraint or temporary detention is therefore wholly unacceptable,” he said.
Afridi said that such actions created a “clear impression” that judicial directives were being disregarded, and that jail and police authorities were not safeguarding or facilitating the rights of visitors.
He urged Maryam to ensure a proper, safe and dignified waiting area for authorised visitors.
“The current practice of stopping them nearly a kilometre away and compelling elderly family members — particularly women — to sit on roads is wholly inappropriate and must be discontinued,” he said.
He said that the Punjab government should ensure the implementation of all court directives on visitation. He also called for identifying and holding individuals accountable for obstructing, insulting, or physically manhandling peaceful visitors, including Imran’s family and members of the KP cabinet.
He said that the Punjab government should also issue instructions to the prison and police authorities to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. Further, he called for establishing a mechanism ensuring that all future meetings were facilitated in an “orderly, respectful and legally compliant manner”.
Afridi ended his letter by saying that Imran was a former prime minister and the leader of a political party he himself represented.
“Any deviation from court-mandated procedures in his case, or any disrespectful treatment of his immediate family, becomes a matter of direct institutional concern,” he said, adding that he could not remain indifferent when Imran’s dignity and rights were being compromised.
“I am therefore constrained to demand that these issues be addressed promptly, decisively and in full conformity with judicial directions,” he said.
Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at the Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the protests of May 9, 2023.
On Thursday, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had expressed concern over the reports of Imran’s sisters being “manhandled” and noted that the rights of prisoners’ families to meet their relatives and the right to peaceful assembly were protected under national and international human rights law.
“HRCP calls for a transparent inquiry and urges authorities to ensure the rights, safety and dignity of all involved are fully respected,” it said in a post on X.
