Pakistan court allows only those to meet Imran Khan in jail whose names have been approved by him

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court has ordered the Adiala Jail authorities to permit only those individuals to meet imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan whose names have been approved by him, a media report said on Saturday.

IHC Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan was hearing a petition of PTI leaders Omar Ayub, Asad Qaiser and others against the Adiala jail superintendent for not allowing their meeting with Khan, the beleaguered party leader, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Jail Superintendent Asad Warraich, in a written response to the contempt of court case on Friday, informed the court that two days ago, arms and ammunition were recovered from the backside of the jail, and two suspects were arrested.

Warraich said a search operation continued throughout the previous day, therefore, no meeting was allowed with the PTI founder.

The superintendent said in his report to the court that security personnel were deployed to protect the PTI founder during his meetings in jail. During the meetings, he added, the security officials had been instructed to stay away from the visitors, so that they could not listen to their conversation, the newspaper reported.

The court said no one would be allowed to give an application to the jail superintendent for meeting with the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician. It said the meeting would be allowed to only those persons whose names were given by Khan himself. Later, the court adjourned the hearing until March 15.

Khan and senior party leader and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, 67, have been lodged at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi in various cases.

Last month, Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to seven years imprisonment in an “un-Islamic” marriage or Iddat case.

In January, the PTI founding chairman and his wife were sentenced to 14 years imprisonment each for corruption on charges of illegally selling state gifts.

Earlier, Khan was also sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special court for leaking sensitive state secrets.

Khan and Qureshi were also handed down a jail term of 10 years in the cipher case.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power. Khan has also been disqualified from holding any public office for 10 years.