PTI lawyer meets Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in Adiala for 40 minutes

PTI lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar said on Monday that he met party founder Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where both are held, Dawn, Geo News and The Express Tribune reported.

The meeting began at 4:30pm and lasted 40 minutes, Safdar said in a post on X. It was his first meeting with Imran after seven months and with Bushra after 11 months.

“After repeated applications and requests, I met Khan sahib after seven months and BB after 11 months,” he wrote. He said the time was “insufficient to cover all cases [and] legal matters”.

What was said

Safdar said Imran and Bushra briefed him on their health and conditions in jail and gave him fresh instructions on some legal matters and cases. He did not give details of those instructions.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has allowed Imran meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays with family, lawyers and associates. Despite several court directions, his meetings have been largely restricted in recent months, Dawn reported. In September, the IHC directed jail authorities to end the isolation of Imran and Bushra and give them facilities under prison rules, according to Geo News.

PTI’s other statements

On the same day, PTI said its political committee had denied reports of internal divisions. “There was no grouping or division within its ranks,” the party said, and its workers would keep working towards shared goals.

• Gohar rejects Saif: PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan called party leader Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif’s claims “baseless”. Saif had said in a Geo News interview that PTI leaders failed to meet Imran despite being offered a chance. “We made every possible effort to meet the PTI founder through the courts and negotiations, but despite all our efforts, we were not allowed even a single meeting,” Gohar said.
• 28th Amendment: PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja linked any party decision on the proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment to a meeting with Imran.
• Hospital reports: the committee voiced concern over reports that Imran and Bushra had been moved to hospital without their families being told, and demanded that the Supreme Court’s order on medical treatment be carried out.
• Detainees: it demanded the release of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, the provincial assembly speaker and other detained legislators.

Background

Imran has been in jail since August 5, 2023, when he was sentenced to three years in the Toshakhana case. He and Bushra are also serving a 14-year sentence in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case, according to Dawn, and the PTI founder faces trials in cases over the May 9, 2023 riots. The party says all the cases are politically motivated.

Imran’s sisters have long held sit-ins outside Adiala. Dawn reported that they have been unable to stage more since their detention in late September under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. The Lahore High Court on Monday directed jail authorities to arrange a meeting between Noreen Niazi and her daughters, according to Dawn’s reporting. The party’s march, which began in Lakki Marwat on October 4, was followed on October 11 by the federal government’s imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

What we know, and what we don’t

• Known: the lawyer met both for 40 minutes on Monday, after repeated requests.
• Known: the lawyer says both briefed him on their health and living conditions, but his post gave no specifics.
• Unknown: what instructions Imran gave on pending cases, and whether more meetings will be allowed.
• Unknown: whether the reports of a hospital shift are accurate; the PTI statement refers to “reports”.

Why it matters

Access to Imran is the central demand in PTI’s political fight, and Gohar says access was also one of its conditions in talks. A single 40-minute meeting after seven months does not settle that dispute, but the lawyer’s visit shows that meetings can happen when authorities allow them. The next test is whether the court-allowed Tuesday and Thursday meetings take place as ordered.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn, Geo News and The Express Tribune.