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• Despite long wait, Afridi and Aleema unable to secure meeting with IHC CJ
• Party issues call for ‘march to Adiala’ next week
ISLAMABAD: After ending their overnight sit-in outside Adiala jail, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and other PTI leaders headed to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to challenge the denial of meetings with Imran Khan.
But despite waiting for an audience with Justice Sarfraz Dogar, CM Afridi and Aleema Khan were unable to meet him.
Photos shared on social media showed the KP CM and Mr Khan’s sister waiting in the office of the secretary to the IHC chief justice for quite some time.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the court, CM Afridi claimed that they were informed that the high court chief justice “did not want to meet them”.
He deplored that no one had been allowed to meet his incarcerated party founder, or his spouse since Oct 27. “We know nothing about his condition,” he said, explaining that his sisters, party leadership, lawyers and even doctors could not meet him.
However, Mr Khan’s sister did file a contempt of court petition against the jail superintendent and others for violating the court’s orders.
The plea, seen by Dawn, referred to the IHC’s March 24 order, in which the court had reinstated the twice-a-week meeting schedule for Mr Khan.
It said Aleema Khan sought the initiation of contempt of court proceedings “on account of the wilful non-implementation of the orders passed by this honourable court, particularly with respect to the authorities’ failure to allow” her meetings with Imran, in line with the court’s directives in March.
It stated that “due to the persistent non-cooperation” of the Adiala jail superintendent and “ongoing political victimisation”, Mr Khan and others were “constrained” to file writ petitions before the IHC, seeking the enforcement of visitation rights.
“However, despite the clear and unequivocal directions of this honourable court, the respondents have failed to comply and have repeatedly denied access to the legal counsel, family members, and associates” of Imran on multiple occasions, it added.
‘Two or three minutes’
Speaking to reporters, the KP CM said he and six other people had asked jail authorities on Thursday to allow them to speak to Mr Khan, just for “just two or three minutes” and “assured them that we will not talk about politics or administrative matters”. “We said we just wanted to find out about his health. But we were still not allowed to meet,” he added.
He alleged that the KP and its government were facing discrimination, saying that “in other provinces, Pakistan Air Force planes were used for the chief minister’s travel. By such actions, you are creating division. You are causing resentment and distances to grow.”
“You are worsening the situation yourselves,” CM Afridi said, warning that if it worsened further, “neither side would be able to bring it under control”.
He also announced the PTI had also decided not to let National Assembly and Senate sessions scheduled for Friday proceed “because we want our leadership and Imran Khan sahib’s sisters to be allowed to meet him”.
The legislatures were not of any use if they could not deliver justice to their representatives, he decried. “Business as usual will not go on after this” until the PTI founder is allowed to meet his sisters and party leadership, he added.
March to Adiala
The KP chief minister said that they had called on “all parliamentarians, from all over Pakistan”, to gather and protest peacefully outside the high court on Tuesday before proceeding to Adiala jail.
“The Constitution and the law give us the right to protest,” he said. “We will definitely use this option,” he said, adding that if their constitutional right to meet Mr Khan was granted, the PTI would not turn to protest.
Earlier, visuals posted by the PTI on X showed CM Afridi, along with other party workers, offering Fajr prayers outside the jail on Friday morning before they ended the sit-in. Other images showed CM Afridi and others huddled around a fire.
Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2025
