0
ISLAMABAD: After Imran Khan’s meetings with his family members and party leaders became a contentious issue, the PTI on Sunday formed a five-member committee to decide who can meet its incarcerated founder.
However, the decision made by PTI’s political committee stopped short of naming the five members of this body.
When asked about its composition, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram told Dawn that the five members would be finalised by Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Salman Akram Raja.
A statement issued by the party said that no person, apart from those recommended by the committee, would be allowed to meet Mr Khan.
Anyone meeting him without the committee’s permission would be held liable for violating party discipline.
But PTI leaders from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would be exempted from the restriction, as they do not need the committee’s approval to meet Mr Khan.
While the committee will nominate visitors for meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays as per court order, Mr Khan’s input would be sought for future visitors during these meetings.
The party’s political committee, which met to discuss the overall situation, also decided that a list of approved visitors would be sent to the Adiala jail administration through three focal persons — Barristers Gohar and Raja, and Intizar Hussain Panjhuta.
The political committee decided that if any person approved by the committee was stopped by jail authorities from meeting Mr Khan, no one would go inside the prison as a mark of protest.
Also, an application of contempt of court against jail authorities would be filed in the IHC, it decided.
Last week, police took into custody Mr Khan’s sisters, Aleema and Uzma Khan, as well as others from outside the prison after they were denied a meeting with the incarcerated PTI founder. The arrests were made ostensibly to prevent a law and order situation as protesters pelted police officials with stones and the latter responded with baton charge.
These meetings, as per the court order, were to be coordinated by PTI leader Salman Akram Raja. However, Mr Raja himself was stopped by jail authorities from meeting Mr Khan last week.
Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2025
