Imran Khan’s sister, Noreen Niazi, met the PTI founder at Adiala Jail on Tuesday for the second consecutive week, continuing a pattern of weekly family visits ordered by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
Following the Court’s Directions
The Supreme Court ruled on August 18, in response to a petition Khan had filed in May, that jail authorities must facilitate weekly meetings between the incarcerated former prime minister and his family members. The court also directed that Khan be allowed to speak with his sons by telephone twice a week. As part of the arrangement, Khan’s family reassured the court they would not speak to the media following visits, and PTI lawyer Awais Younas Chaudhry confirmed that Tuesday’s meeting lasted around 45 minutes and that Noreen left the jail without addressing reporters, in line with that commitment.
“Earlier, Bushra Bibi’s family was allowed to meet her, and then it was conveyed that Noreen Niazi could meet Imran Khan,” Chaudhry told Dawn, adding that Khan’s other two sisters waited outside in a vehicle during the visit.
Still Pushing for the Hospital Transfer
Chaudhry said the party continues to hope the government will fully implement the Supreme Court’s order directing that Khan be shifted to Shifa International Hospital for treatment, where his personal physicians would be permitted to examine him. “We really appreciate the role of the Supreme Court, as the meetings with PTI’s founding chairman have become possible only because of the court,” he said.
The hospital transfer issue has remained a flashpoint between PTI and the federal government. When Khan was taken for a medical check-up on August 21, he was brought to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences rather than Shifa International as the court had specified, before being returned to jail the same morning. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar attributed the change to the security situation created by PTI workers gathered along the route to and outside the hospital, an explanation PTI has disputed.
Why It Matters
The now-regular weekly meetings mark a shift from the months of restricted access Khan’s family had previously faced, and PTI has framed the court’s continued oversight as central to securing even this level of contact. Whether the government moves to fully implement the hospital transfer order in the coming weeks remains an open question, and one likely to keep testing the relationship between the party and the federal government.
