Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah voiced support on Friday for meetings between incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan and his family members, subject to certain conditions.
Imran has been in jail since August 2023, serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges. His family and party members have protested outside Adiala Jail in recent days, demanding a meeting but have been repeatedly denied despite orders from the courts.
Imran’s sister Aleema Khan filed a contempt of court petition against the Adiala jail superintendent and others over their failure to comply with an earlier Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that reinstated a twice-a-week meeting schedule for the incarcerated former premier.
Speaking on the matter in an interview on 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.”
He further said that political discussions could also not take place in the meetings, saying that no law allowed a prisoner to lead, plan and guide movements on the outside from jail.
The senator maintained that it was not permitted for family members to hold press conferences outside the prison premises and for a barrage of messages to appear on social media against the state and officials.
Sanaullah argued that the IHC’s order to facilitate meetings was also contingent on similar conditions as he 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.
