Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information and Science & Information Technology Shafi Jan has strongly condemned the denial of permission to Imran Khan’s sisters to meet the PTI founding chairman, as well as the arrest of peaceful Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers outside Adiala Jail.
Shafi Jan said that imposing illegal restrictions on family meetings and arresting peaceful political workers was not only a blatant violation of judicial orders but also a clear manifestation of the Punjab government’s fascist mindset.
He said that despite clear directives from the Supreme Court, Imran Khan’s sisters were still being denied access to meet him, which constituted an outright defiance of the judiciary. He added that the Islamabad High Court had also ordered the restoration of Imran Khan’s fundamental rights and basic facilities, including his right to meet family members. Unfortunately, he said, the federal and Punjab governments were acting as though they were above the Constitution and the law, repeatedly undermining and ridiculing judicial orders.
The provincial minister said the incompetent regime imposed on the federal and Punjab governments through Form-47 had crossed every limit of political victimisation. “Depriving Imran Khan of his constitutional, legal and fundamental human rights is deeply alarming and completely unacceptable,” he said.
Shafi Jan said that keeping Imran Khan in isolation amounted to a grave violation of human rights and a blatant breach of constitutional and legal norms. He further expressed serious concern over what he described as continued negligence regarding Imran Khan’s health and medical needs.
He said Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Imran Khan’s sisters and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had pursued every constitutional and legal avenue to secure a meeting with Imran Khan. Despite these efforts, the federal and Punjab governments continued to deny permission for the meeting, he added.
Shafi Jan demanded that, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directives, Imran Khan be immediately shifted to Al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment.
Drawing a comparison with the treatment afforded to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Shafi Jan said that Nawaz Sharif had been provided access to his personal physicians and had regularly been allowed to meet party leaders and family members. “In stark contrast, Imran Khan is being denied proper medical treatment, meetings with his family and other basic facilities. This discriminatory treatment is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of justice and equality before the law,” he said.
The provincial minister demanded strict and complete implementation of all judicial orders and legal requirements, and called for Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi to be provided all constitutional rights, basic facilities and lawful entitlements without further delay.
Shafi Jan said the “Form-47 regime” had forgotten that its days in power were numbered. He reaffirmed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would continue its peaceful, constitutional and legal struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law and the restoration of democracy.
He said that The September 27 long march will be the final nail in the political coffin of the incompetent Form-47 regime.