The Punjab government on Tuesday stopped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur from visiting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan at Adiala Jail.
The Punjab government has sent a letter to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, saying that there is a ban on meetings with Imran Khan “due to security threats”. The Punjab government, in the letter to the deputy secretary judicial in Peshawar, has asked Gandapur to cancel his visit to Adiala Jail keeping in view the security threats. The letter says that security of Attock, Adiala, DG Khan and Mianwali jails has been beefed up due to the security threats.
According to the inspector general of Punjab Prisons, there is a ban all types of meetings with prisoners in all jails for the next two weeks. He says that police and Rangers will carry out clearance operations inside jails.
The Punjab government’s move comes days after the Rawalpindi Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the police claimed to have foiled an attempt to attack the jail, arresting three terrorists. Besides Imran Khan, his party’s senior leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Parvez Elahi are imprisoned in Adiala Jail.
However, the Punjab government clarified that the restrictions imposed in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail were not aimed at hindering PTI leaders’ meetings with Imran Khan. “This move wasn’t made to take away any facility from him [Khan]. There is a serious threat alert, which is under investigation,” Punjab’s Information Minister Azma Bukhari said while talking to a news channel.
