RAWALPINDI: Adiala jail authorities on Wednesday rejected renewed rumours about shifting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, insisting that no proposal regarding his transfer is under review, sources said.
The sources within Adiala jail told Geo News that the ousted prime minister remains in the facility and was being provided full security, medical care, and proper meals.
They added that a five-member medical team from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) recently examined Imran and declared him in stable health.
Furthermore, the sources said that talk of transferring the PTI founder "holds no merit," adding that he is being looked after in accordance with jail regulations and that no administrative decision regarding his relocation has been taken.
The clarification comes hours after sources claimed that the federal government was considering shifting the incarcerated PTI founder from Adiala jail.
Earlier, sources told Geo News that the authorities believe PTI was "pursuing an agenda to destabilise the country", saying that attempts were underway to foment unrest under the guise of protest.
Addressing a press conference, Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ikhtiar Wali warned that political confrontation has reached a point "from where return seems impossible."
Wali said the government was seriously examining proposals to move the "prisoner" from Adiala jail, without naming the ousted prime minister.
"They want the prisoner shifted from Adiala, and the government is genuinely considering it," he added.
Wali also claimed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has a nexus with drug smugglers. "His performance is not zero — it is minus," he remarked.
He further claimed that CM Afridi's family members were engaged in the narcotics business "under his patronage”.
The remarks come a day after the PTI founder's sisters staged a sit-in near Rawalpindi's Adiala jail after being denied a meeting with their incarcerated brother, which was ended following police action.
The protesters gathered at the Factory checkpoint after Noreen Khan, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan. The police officials used water cannons to scatter the participants of the sit-in. Some of the protesters resisted the police operation by hurling stones, leading to the arrests of several PTI workers.
Meetings with the PTI founder have been a point of contention between the former ruling party and the government for quite some time, with the last meeting held last week when ex-PM's sister Uzma was allowed to meet him.
Tensions have escalated outside Adiala jail recently as PTI protests, including scuffles with police and jail staff, continue over meetings with the ousted prime minister, who has been imprisoned there for over two years.
Last month, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi staged a 16-hour sit-in outside the facility. Before this, Imran's sisters Aleema Khan, Noreen Khan Niazi and Uzma Khanum also held a protest outside the jail, which resulted in their brief detention.
However, since then, the government, as confirmed by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, has imposed a blanket ban on meetings with the incarcerated politician.
The ban came hours after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry termed the PTI founder a "mentally ill person" and a threat to national security.
Meanwhile, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazl Chaudhry confirmed that no such decision had been taken to shift Imran from Adiala jail, although "many matters remain under consideration from time to time."
Speaking on Geo News programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath', the PML-N leader said the scenes unfolding outside Adiala jail were “unpleasant,” stressing that thousands of prisoners were being affected by the disturbances caused by PTI supporters.
He added that meetings with inmates are subject to judicial orders and jail regulations, and if the proper procedure is followed, “there can be no objection.”
Criticising PTI’s political conduct, he questioned whom the party was serving by “attacking the state and its institutions.”
Chaudhry also dismissed the possibility of any immediate political agitation from PTI, saying there were no signs of a movement emerging anytime soon.
He concluded that the PTI’s internal fractures stem from the party’s own rhetoric, which many of its leaders were now unwilling to continue carrying.
Separately, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said that both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and he had repeatedly stated their readiness for dialogue. "If the opposition wants to advance talks, it is a welcome development," he said.
However, he disclosed that the opposition conveyed that it wanted dialogue only with Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir. "The very forces that defeated India were targeted with offensive language," he lamented.
Ayaz Sadiq said the opposition had taken politics to a point "from where return may no longer be possible", noting that the parliamentary floor was repeatedly used for anti-judiciary and anti-army rhetoric.
"I moved four steps forward for dialogue, but now I have had to retreat 40 steps," he said. "If Pakistan exists, politics exists, and everything else exists."
Speaking to journalists outside parliament, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the use of water cannon on party workers.
"This is not the corporate world where one can remove one of two people and let the other remain. If attempts are made to minus us, none of them will remain either,” he said.
He added that PTI had come to Parliament to strengthen democracy, “but some people do not want to see the situation improve”.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said no one had the courage to impose governor’s rule in KP. “We know how to defend ourselves. This is beyond their capacity,” he added.
He also sought clarity from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), asking whether Faisal Karim Kundi’s comments in favour of governor’s rule represented official party policy.
Qaiser emphasised that PTI desired peace and supported full use of state resources against terrorism, adding that the party would speak "as far as the law allows".
