Imran Khan may meet family, but conditions apply: Pakistan Prime Minister’s advisor

His family members have also held protests outside the Jail premises in the recent days, demanding the meeting, the Dawn report stated.

Imran has been in jail since August 2023, serving a 14-year sentence on several corruption charges.

‘Political discussions cannot take place during meetings’: Sanaullah

In an interview to Geo News show ‘Naya Pakistan’, Sanaullah said, “There should be permission for meetings and they should definitely take place, but a 90-minute press conference cannot take place after an hour’s meeting; no law allows this.”

Stating the conditions, he further said that political discussions could not take place during these meetings, saying that no law allowed a prisoner to lead, plan and guide movements on the outside from jail, Dawn reported quoting the PM advisor.

The senator also maintained that family members were not permitted to hold press conferences outside the jail premises. The circulation of messages on social media against the state and its officials was also not permitted, as per the report.

Sanaullah argued that the IHC’s order to facilitate meetings was contingent on similar conditions as he has laid out.

“They (Imran’s family and legal team) should sit down with jail authorities and settle matters,” he said, saying that the process of meetings should be better conducted without violations from either side, Dawn quoted.

The contempt petition was filed after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, along with several other PTI leaders, who staged an overnight sit-in outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.

Despite sit-ins, CM Afridi was denied a meeting with Imran for the eighth time on Thursday. He said that he would not back down from the demands to meet Khan and get information about his health, PTI news agency reported. “I have used every constitutional and legal path. What route is left for me to meet my leader?” he asked.

There were rumours about the deteriorating health of the former Pakistan Prime Minister but authorities rejected the concerns. Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told the parliament on Thursday that Khan was doing well and “enjoying facilities like personal chef which are not available to any other prisoner”, the news agency quoted. Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also said that Imran Khan was enjoying “five-star-like food” at Adiala Jail.

Meetings not subject to ‘whims or wishes’, Barrister Aqeel

In an interview to a Geo News show, Pakistan Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik said meetings could not be held on anyone’s “whims or wishes,” Dawn report quoted.

He said meetings could only be held under existing prison rules and the prerogative in this regard rests with the superintendent, adding that the prison administration could curtail a prisoner’s privilege to have meetings “in the public interest” if a necessary cause was found, Dawn noted.

However, according to the report, he did not elaborate on the criteria by which the jail superintendent decides when to allow meetings or not. Malik also maintained that the rules prevented any political discussion.

Questioned about the KP chief minister’s threat to launch a protest on Tuesday if a meeting was not allowed, the minister said the government would take the necessary measures in such a situation, the report added.