Khan to lead countrywide protests from jail, says PTI leader

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country’s largest opposition party, announced on Saturday that its incarcerated founder, Imran Khan, has decided to lead a countrywide protest movement from behind bars, saying the party has been completely “pushed to the wall” with no option left but to take to the streets.

Senator Barrister Ali Zafar, a senior PTI leader, conveyed Khan’s message to journalists outside Adiala Jail following a meeting with the former prime minister.

“Imran Khan has said he will lead the movement as chairman from within the jail,” Zafar told reporters. “All decisions and strategies for the protest will be made under his direction. He has ruled out any possibility of staging a protest at D-Chowk in Islamabad and instead directed that demonstrations be held in streets, neighborhoods, and cities across Pakistan.”

Zafar added that Khan has instructed him to prepare a detailed plan and present it in their next meeting, after which further directions would be issued.

“The strategy will be finalized in a few days,” he said. “I want to tell the public that I have never seen such seriousness in any past movement. What’s coming will make people forget all previous protests, this one is the real deal.”

Zafar said the party was not getting relief either from the executive or the judiciary. “Khan said no one is listening to us, and our rights are being violated in jail,” Zafar quoted the ex-PM as saying.

Courtroom drama

Earlier in the day, Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, who is also incarcerated at Adiala Jail, refused to attend a scheduled jail hearing in protest after being denied a meeting with her husband by prison authorities.

Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand, who was presiding over the hearing of the Toshakhana 2 case, sent jail staff multiple times to bring her to court. However, they reported that she had refused to appear.

The court waited three and a half hours before adjourning the hearing to June 3. Judge Arjumand issued a warning, saying this was the “last warning,” and that her bail would be suspended if she failed to attend the next hearing.

Remarks on sentence awarded to PTI MNA

Following the hearing, PTI lawyer Advocate Naeem Haider Panjotha briefed the media on further remarks made by Khan from jail. Commenting on the recent conviction of MNA Abdul Latif Chitrali, Khan alleged that anti-terrorism court judges are working hand-in-glove with the state. “Now, after Chitrali’s conviction, they will move to de-seat him from the National Assembly,” Khan reportedly said.

Khan also claimed that jailed PTI leaders Yasmin Rashid and Shah Mehmood Qureshi would be freed if they chose to leave the party. According to Panjotha, Khan sent a clear message to party leaders: “Whoever cannot withstand the pressure is free to leave.”

Panjotha further criticized the judiciary, claiming it had become an extension of the executive after the 26th Constitutional Amendment. “There is no longer an independent judiciary,” he said. “It has become the government’s judiciary.”