Pakistan’s Punjab government on Saturday lifted a ban on the meetings of former prime minister Imran Khan who has been incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for more than a year.

“The Punjab government lifted the ban on the meetings of prisoners in Adiala Jail,” a senior officer said.

The ban on meetings of the prisoners, including the 72-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, was imposed on October 4 because of security concerns, he said.

The government had imposed the ban on Khan’s meetings after the PTI gave a protest call on October 4 in Islamabad demanding his release and for the “independence of the judiciary”.

Earlier he had said he is ready to spend his whole life in jail but will not compromise on his struggle for “Haqiqi Azadi (real freedom)”.

The ministers say Khan’s freedom is linked to his unconditional apology for the May 9, 2023, riots in which the PTI workers allegedly had attacked state and military installations.

Khan, however, demands the constitution of a judicial commission to probe the May 9 incidents.

“Today, Imran Khan completed 400 days in jail but the powers that be couldn’t break his resolve for Haqiqi Azadi. The whole nation is standing behind him and he will soon come out of jail,” PTI senior leader Asghar Gujjar said.

He said that today’s landmark rally in Islamabad will be an eyeopener for this “fake government” of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which could no longer detain Khan.

Khan had talked about the deplorable conditions he is kept in the prison.

“I have not spent a single day at the prison hospital. Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, and Asif Zardari were given air-conditioned rooms with en-suite bathrooms. One of the prisoners’ cooks for me, but I have never complained. Only three visits are allowed to meet with me in a week, whereas Nawaz Sharif met with 40 people (when he was in jail). It was an open house for him. Nawaz Sharif used to even talk to journalists in the privacy of his own room. I send the names of six of my party leaders every week, and only three are allowed to meet me for a mere thirty minutes. I have so many cases against me, and yet, I am only allowed to meet with six lawyers,” the PTI supremo had said.

Earlier this week, a Pakistani court granted bail to Bushra Bibi, the wife of Khan, in the Toshakhana corruption case involving the alleged illegal sale of state gifts, nearly nine months after she was arrested.

Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been in jail in different cases. PTI MZ GSP GSP

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