Adiala | Pakistan

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was on Thursday denied a meeting with incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan for the fourth time since assuming office. The denial comes despite the Islamabad High Court (IHC) last week directing the Adiala jail superintendent to implement a March 24 order that reinstated the twice-a-week meeting schedule for the former prime minister. Afridi has termed consultation with Imran as crucial in order to announce his new provincial cabinet after he was elected as the chief minister earlier this month. Speaking to reporters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, Afridi said he was yet again prevented by the police from meeting Imran. He was flanked by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, who was approved by the IHC as the designated person to provide the jail officials with the list of individuals named to meet Imran. Afridi highlighted the various legal steps he had taken in order to secure his meeting with Imran, including letters written to the Punjab Home Department a...

The Islamabad High Court on Thursday directed the Adiala jail superintendent to implement a March 24 order that reinstated the twice-a-week meeting schedule for former prime minister Imran Khan. The directive came as a larger bench, led by Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and including Justices Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Muhammad Azam Khan, collectively took up all 11 petitions filed by PTI leaders regarding Imran’s jail visitation. The ex-premier’s family and party have repeatedly accused prison authorities of “sabotaging” meetings with him. Today, the IHC directed Adiala jail’s Superintendent Abdul Ghafoor Anjum, who was present during the hearing, to allow Imran’s jail meetings, as per the earlier order, while abiding by standard operating procedures (SOPs). It directed the jail official to facilitate the meetings as per the lists provided by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, who also attended the proceedings. Raja and Anjum traded barbs during the hearing as the PTI leader claimed that “not even once” ...

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday removed the registrar’s objections on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s plea seeking a meeting with incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan and issued notices to the Adiala jail superintendent and others for October 23. Afridi had filed the plea on Oct 17, two days after he was sworn in as the provincial chief executive on Oct 15. He had gone to Adiala jail — where Imran has been imprisoned since September 2023 — after getting protective bail from the Peshawar High Court on Oct 16. However, he was denied the meeting; Afridi has stated that he would announce his cabinet after consulting Imran. He had then filed a plea with the IHC, however, the registrar’s office had objected to the maintainability of the plea. Today, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir took up the matter and overruled the objections of the registrar office. Afridi’s lawyer Advocate Ali Bukhari said that the registrar’s office had raised the objection that the petition was filed “without the provin...