PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan Niazi — are among 400 people booked on Wednesday after police dispersed a sit-in near Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where the party founder and former prime minister is currently incarcerated.
Moreover, 14 PTI workers were arrested and produced before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) today, which approved three days of physical remand and returned the suspects to police custody.
Imran’s sisters, party workers and supporters had staged a sit-in at Factory Naka a day prior, demanding their court-mandated Tuesday meeting with the PTI founder. Police used water cannons and baton charges to disperse the protesters, with police starting their operation at 2am.
According to a copy of the first information report (FIR) — dated December 17 and available with Dawn — 400 suspects, including 35 nominated persons, were booked under various provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (ATA) and Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including the use of petrol bombs and violating Section 144 of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC), which prohibits public gatherings.
The nominated suspects include Imran’s sisters, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, PTI leader Aliya Hamza and PTI lawyer Naeem Panjhuta, among others.
The 400 suspects have been booked under the following provisions:
- Section 7 of the ATA — terrorism
- Section 21(I) of the ATA — aid and abetment
- Section 109 of the PPC — punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment
- Section 120B of the PPC — punishment of criminal conspiracy
- Section 147 of the PPC — punishment for rioting
- Section 149 of the PPC — every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object
- Section 186 of the PPC — obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions
- Section 188 of the PPC — disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant
- Section 285 of the PPC — negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter
- Section 286 of the PPC — negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance
- Section 324 of the PPC — attempted murder
- Section 341 of the PPC — punishment for wrongful restraint
- Section 353 of the PPC — assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty
- Section 440 of the PPC — mischief committed after preparation made causing death or hurt
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.
The PTI has regularly raised concerns about his health and that of his wife. Imran’s son, Kasim Khan, expressed fear during a December 1 interview that authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his father’s condition.
However, Uzma Khanum, Imran’s sister, said on December 2 that her incarcerated brother was “perfectly fine” after she was allowed to meet him, putting to rest rumours surrounding the former premier’s health.
In a short talk with the media after the meeting, she said: “Imran Khan’s health is perfectly fine. However, he was very angry and said that they are subjecting him to mental torture.”
She added that Imran was confined to his cell throughout the day and was allowed only a short time outside. Uzma further said that he was not in communication with anyone, and the meeting between them lasted around 30 minutes.
Last Friday, a United Nations special rapporteur warned that Imran is being held in conditions that could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment and called on Pakistani authorities to comply with international norms and standards.
Expressing grave concern over the report, the party said it exposed the “degrading treatment” of party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan during his incarceration at Adiala Jail and amounted to a “blatant violation of international law and fundamental human rights.”
