The Punjab Home Department imposed a two-week ban on Tuesday on prisoner visitations and media coverage at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. The prison houses high-profile political figures including PTI founder and former premier Imran Khan.
Since the February 8 polls, the prison has been the centre of several meetings between the incarcerated former PTI chief and leaders belonging to the party as well as its allies, seeking the former premier’s consultations over the party’s course of political action.
In orders issued to the Punjab IG, the department maintained that the decision was taken in light of a ‘threat alert’ issued for the prison by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The department’s Internal Security Wing reported that terrorists who have the support of anti-state groups wanted to target the prison to spread chaos in the country. Hence, it was important for the department to take necessary measures to avoid such incidents.
As per sources, the department has ordered the Special Branch, Intelligence Bureau, and Prisons Department to conduct a security survey of the prison on March 13 (today). It has also directed the installation of barbed wires around the boundary wall and the screening of the jail premises and nearby areas by the bomb disposal squad.
As per the Home Department’s directives, government contractors and staff employed at the jail will also undergo a security clearance by police and Rangers along with mock emergency drills. The ban will be applied to all the inmates of the jail, including former premier Imran, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and PTI President Parvez Elahi.
Earlier in the day, the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) filed a contempt plea at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the Adiala jail superintendent for denying the party chief and other members a meeting with the PTI founding chairman a day earlier. The plea was filed by the party’s chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.
Talking to the media after filing the plea, Allama Nasir stated that the jail authorities did not allow him to meet Imran despite a court order issued in this regard on March 8. He added that the prison officers made him wait from 9 AM to 4 PM on March 11.
The MWM chief lamented how the situation in the country “was worse than a jungle”. “Even a jungle has more laws,” he stated.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said, “They have imposed a kind of blanket restriction for two weeks and the excuse made was that there is a terror threat. We strongly condemn this blanket ban. “We demand that before imposing this, his (Imran’s) family members and lawyers should have been informed,” he added. Recalling “two assassination attempts” on Imran, Gohar said, “Caging him all of a sudden is an indication that Khan sahib’s life is in danger.”
Speaking to the media outside the Adiala jail, National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan said he and other PTI lawmakers were “not being allowed to meet him (Imran) despite court orders”.
“They have imposed this ban for two weeks. We condemn this,” he added.
Ayub said, “The Punjab home secretary should be ashamed. So-called, unconstitutional and illegal chief minister Maryam Nawaz should be ashamed because this bar has been placed under her watch.” Using the same terms, the PTI MNA said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and newly sworn-in Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who had been serving as the caretaker Punjab CM until recently, “should be ashamed” as well.
