RAWALPINDI: Sisters of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, along with party workers and leaders, staged a sit-in at Rawalpindi’s Factory Naka on Tuesday after being once again prevented from meeting the former prime minister.
The protest, held a short distance from Adiala Jail, is part of a recurring pattern, as PTI supporters and Imran Khan’s sisters have been staging sit-ins at Factory Naka every Tuesday and Thursday for several weeks over continued restrictions on jail meetings.
An Islamabad High Court (IHC) order issued on March 24, 2025 had directed that Imran Khan be allowed to meet visitors twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, despite the court’s directive, his sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan Niazi — along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, have repeatedly failed to gain access to him.
On Tuesday, authorities sealed off routes leading to Adiala Jail, including Factory Naka and Dahgal Naka, amid heavy police deployment. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was stopped at Dahgal Naka, while several others, including Imran Khan’s sisters, were halted at Factory Naka.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said in a post on X around 3pm that he was stopped at a police checkpoint shortly after crossing Bahria Town. Later, in a video shared by the party around 8pm, he said he was again blocked near Chakri before eventually reaching close to Adiala Jail.
Meanwhile, protesters at Factory Naka raised slogans in support of Imran Khan as access to the jail from that point remained fully blocked.
Speaking to the media earlier, Aleema Khan said the family would “do whatever needs to be done” for Imran Khan’s release. She also praised KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi as “the future of Pakistan,” claiming that the country’s youth had rejected “old politics”.
“This is new politics,” she said, adding that messages attributed to the PTI founder from jail were shared on X.
Imran Khan does not have access to the internet in prison, and it remains unclear who operates his X account. The account, however, has continued to post messages described as his statements from jail following meetings with family members and associates.
