Govt mulls shifting Imran Khan from Adiala amid 'rising political tensions'

• PTI condemns force used on Adiala supporters.
• Ikhtiar Wali claims CM Afridi has nexus with smugglers.
• Ayaz Sadiq says opposition blocked dialogue.

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has begun deliberations on shifting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan from Adiala jail, with Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ikhtiar Wali warning that political confrontation has reached a point "from where return seems impossible."

Sources told Geo News that the authorities believe PTI was "pursuing an agenda to destabilise the country", saying that attempts were underway to foment unrest under the guise of protest.

Addressing a press conference, Wali said the government was seriously examining proposals to move the "prisoner" from Adiala jail. "They want the prisoner shifted from Adiala, and the government is genuinely considering it," he added.

Wali also claimed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has a nexus with drug smugglers. "His performance is not zero — it is minus," he remarked.

He further claimed that CM Afridi's family members were engaged in the narcotics business "under his patronage”.

The remarks come a day after the PTI founder's sisters staged a sit-in near Rawalpindi's Adiala jail after being denied a meeting with their incarcerated brother, which was ended following police action.

The protesters gathered at the Factory checkpoint after Noreen Khan, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan. The police officials used water cannons to scatter the participants of the sit-in. Some of the protesters resisted the police operation by hurling stones, leading to the arrests of several PTI workers.

Meetings with the PTI founder have been a point of contention between the former ruling party and the government for quite some time, with the last meeting held last week when ex-PM's sister Uzma was allowed to meet him.

Tensions have escalated outside Adiala jail recently as PTI protests, including scuffles with police and jail staff, continue over meetings with the ousted prime minister, who has been imprisoned there for over two years.

Last month, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi staged a 16-hour sit-in outside the facility. Before this, Imran's sisters Aleema Khan, Noreen Khan Niazi and Uzma Khanum also held a protest outside the jail, which resulted in their brief detention.

However, since then, the government, as confirmed by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, has imposed a blanket ban on meetings with the incarcerated politician.

The ban came hours after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry termed the PTI founder a "mentally ill person" and a threat to national security.

Separately, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said that both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and he had repeatedly stated their readiness for dialogue. "If the opposition wants to advance talks, it is a welcome development," he said.

However, he disclosed that the opposition conveyed that it wanted dialogue only with Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir. "The very forces that defeated India were targeted with offensive language," he lamented.

Ayaz Sadiq said the opposition had taken politics to a point "from where return may no longer be possible", noting that the parliamentary floor was repeatedly used for anti-judiciary and anti-army rhetoric.

"I moved four steps forward for dialogue, but now I have had to retreat 40 steps," he said. "If Pakistan exists, politics exists, and everything else exists."

'No minus formula'

Speaking to journalists outside parliament, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the use of water cannon on party workers.

"This is not the corporate world where one can remove one of two people and let the other remain. If attempts are made to minus us, none of them will remain either,” he said.

He added that PTI had come to Parliament to strengthen democracy, “but some people do not want to see the situation improve”.

Meanwhile, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said no one had the courage to impose governor’s rule in KP. “We know how to defend ourselves. This is beyond their capacity,” he added.

He also sought clarity from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), asking whether Faisal Karim Kundi’s comments in favour of governor’s rule represented official party policy.

Qaiser emphasised that PTI desired peace and supported full use of state resources against terrorism, adding that the party would speak "as far as the law allows".